The Four Swords
by Apsychoticwolf
Summary: Three girls decided to go on a trip to Hawaii to escape their stressful lives. They end up being brought through a secret portal and into the neopet world. There are villains, monsters, and pirates. Will they be able to help their pirate companions?
1. Strange Events

Hello. (Real people are used in the making of this story.)

Good summary: Kylen(me), Brittany, and Aerielle take a trip to Hawaii to get away from their problems in life. As they are there, they get taken through the portal and into the neopet world. They find themselves in a world of pirates, weird animals, and a world of faeries, where secrets are found. From The infamous ScarBlade to The great Lord Dargian…from the Sea slug to the Snowager…you find all of it and more in this story of secrets, love, and adventure. Enjoy!

**The four swords**

By: Kylen Reid

The islands of Hawaii came into view as the airplane neared its destination. The sky was blue, the sun was shining like gold, and the islands were flourishing with green trees and happy faces. The plane zoomed overhead and some people stared, while others ignored it. People visited Hawaii all the time and it was never a new sight to see. People in Hawaii wore bathing suits or Tiki clothes, which made them look a bit silly, but it was a fun environment, so it wasn't strange there.

The plane was rather quiet now, since people had decided to stop talking and look at the sight of Hawaii. This was a definite break for Kylen Reid because she hated hearing whining babies or chitchat when she tried to type on her laptop or read something. She had once been very open to such things, but recent events made her one of the coldest women alive now. The only people she acted her old self to, were her close friends and family.

This was exactly why she was on this trip right now. She was going to Hawaii with her friend and her sister. Kylen was 18 years old. Her friend, Aerielle, was 16 years old. Her sister was 21. Kylen had been on her own for a few months now and had been dating a guy for nearly a year, when she found out that he had been cheating on her with a minor. It was very devastating and that's why she had become so cold towards people lately. She had decided that she was over it, but the pain of knowing that she wasn't enough was torture.

Finally, her sister, Brittany, had called her and told her that she needed to stop moping and go on vacation. She had suggested Hawaii and Kylen had been there with her before, and she remembered that it was very fun. She agreed and Brittany had bought her the flight tickets. Kylen had begged for Aerielle to go because her friend had always gone to Hawaii and it would probably be more fun to have more people. Brittany had said it was ok, so she got Aerielle a plane ticket as well. Unfortunately, they all were living in different places at the time, so they each had to be on a different plane and meet up at the airport. Kylen's plane would be last to get there.

She looked out the window she was next to and had memories come back to her about her trip to Hawaii when she was in the 8th grade. She really did miss those days. She didn't have the same complications she had now. The palm trees were definitely something she missed. She loved anything tropical, probably because of her love for pirates. This was something she had liked ever since she was a kid. Her sister was nice enough to get a hotel that was practically pirate based. Supposedly, the rooms looked like rooms you'd see in pirate ships, but they were still supposed to be very comfortable.

"We have now arrived in Oahu, Hawaii, enjoy your vacation and thank you for flying American Airlines." She heard the captain say on the intercom and she unbuckled her seat belt. Now that they had landed, people started getting loud and excited and she just groaned in annoyance. At the same time, she was excited, too. She grabbed her case that held her laptop and she got off the plane, waving goodbye to the stewardess.

The airport wasn't very big, but it was still amazing since she felt a humongous heat wave hit her. She was wearing a black and white striped shirt with an anchor picture on it and jean shorts. She definitely came prepared for the hot weather. She figured that Aerielle would end up wearing something else and end up being super hot. Her friend was definitely never prepared.

"Do you need any help miss?" A person who worked at the airport was talking to her now and her face turned red in embarrassment when she realized that she was just standing there staring off into space for at least a minute.

"Oh no, just thinking a bit on where I should meet some people." Kylen replied, hurriedly, and then ran off to find her sister and friend. She sometimes did that. She would always just stand there like a statue and think about bad things. She really couldn't help it. Nothing could keep her mind off of the bad things. That's why she knew that this trip would be great for her.

Kylen stopped to buy a People Magazine and then went to look for them again. She was about to sit down when she heard a familiar voice yelling out into the crowd.

"KYLEN!" She turned instantly to see her sister, Brittany, with Aerielle. Kylen smiled and ran to her sister. They gave each other a big hug and then walked towards where to get Kylen's luggage. Aerielle and Brittany already had their own luggage. When they got it, they decided to rent a car. "I say we should get a convertible."

"Of course, that's always what you want to drive." Kylen replied with a chuckle. Brittany always wanted cool cars. She always wanted fast ones, too. She ended up getting a red convertible corvette and they started to walk out of the airport.

"Don't worry, Kylen. As soon as this trip is over, you won't even be able to remember who that boyfriend of yours was." Brittany stated and Aerielle nodded in agreement.

"We'll have so much fun on this trip. We can look for cute boys along the way." Aerielle said.

"Oh shut up." Kylen was already a little happy now that she was with these two. They walked to their car and hopped in, letting the sun hit them for a moment. They finally got into the car and Brittany drove off.

"So what do you think we should do while we are here? I hadn't really planned anything other than sun bathing." Brittany exclaimed while watching the road.

"I want to go Jet Skiing!" Aerielle yelled happily from the back seat.

"I hope they have horse-back riding here. I want to ride along the beach." Kylen added on.

"I'm sure they have that. Hawaii has everything." Brittany had a large smile plastered on her face. She always seemed to be a happy person, but you'd better watch out, cause she is scary when she's angry. She was definitely the daredevil in the group. She always tried to do dangerous things. Most likely, she would try doing a flip in a jet ski over a wave.

Aerielle was the careful one, always wanting to be safe and not get herself into trouble. That never ruined her sense of adventure and fun, though. She didn't let stuff like that slow her down. She was a good friend of Kylens, every since Kylen was about 14.

Kylen was right in between the two. She always wants to do many fun things and nothing would stop her. Her depressed mood couldn't even stop her. Kylen was naturally an optimist and looked at the brighter side of life, but she was always scared and didn't trust people very well.

"How the hell are we going to find this hotel? This map is insane!" Brittany stated, annoyed. She was turning the map up and down, trying to find the road that they were supposed to be on. Kylen was never good with directions, so she just ignored her sister and looked at the surroundings. She could see the ocean from where they were and just looked at it with slightly squinted eyes. It was a good thing they got here at this time because they heard that Hawaii got a lot of rain. "FINALLY! Found it!"

The three watched as they went into the parking lot of the hotel. The hotel was actually painted to look like a pirate ship. It was really awesome. The doorway into the building looked like it was supposed to be on the side of the ship and a ramp led to it.

"They weren't kidding when they said it was pirate based." Brittany said with her mouth hanging open. She had seen pictures of it before, but it still looked amazing in real life. She parked the car and got out, staring at the large building for a little longer.

Kylen got her things and the other two followed behind her, getting theirs. Brittany was first to go into the building and they looked around the inside for a moment. Random boxes, filled with fake jewels, were scattered along the walls of the lobby. Fish tanks were set up with all kinds of tropical sea creatures. The walls were painted like they were boards. Brittany got their rooms and started walking through halls and up stairs to find them.

When they entered their rooms, they were excited to be in such a cool place and they hopped up onto the hammocks that were hanging from the ceiling. Surprisingly, they were extremely comfortable. The pillows and blankets on them were super soft.

"Well, it's time to have fun." Brittany said.

Kylen had gotten what she wanted, and the three girls were now riding down the beach on some horses. Kylen was a lot more used to riding horses, so she went a lot faster than the other two. Her horse was white with a black mane and tail and its name was 'Twilight'. Brittany's horse was gray with white speckles and it was called 'Fog.' Aerielle was riding a chestnut colored horse named 'Rogue.' They had been riding for at least an hour now and were deciding that it was too hot to keep going. They were even in their bathing suit tops and shorts.

Kylen stopped Twilight and looked out along the ocean. It was so incredible. What was funny was that she actually had a major fear of the ocean. She still didn't let that stop her from swimming or jet skiing. She mostly was afraid of sharks and all. Anything BIG scared her.

Aerielle and Brittany stopped along side her and looked out, too. Brittany enjoyed swimming a lot and only feared the jellyfish, since they seemed to always love stinging her. She always hated it for that. Hawaii didn't have many jellyfish, though, and she felt good about that.

"Well, this has been fun, but we better head back." Brittany stated as she saw the sun starting to set. They had shopped most of the day, deciding to jet ski tomorrow. Now the night was approaching and they were all tired. Kylen and Aerielle both nodded, but all three of them noticed something stick out of the water and then go back under. They saw something brown move through the water. Aerielle was so shocked that she nearly fell off her horse.

"What was that!" she yelled in fear. Kylen was freaking out a bit, too. She backed her horse away from the water along with the other two.

"I don't know what that was, but we all saw it, didn't we?" Kylen asked and they nodded. She was hoping it wasn't a shark, but sharks weren't brown, so she ruled that idea out. It was a very distinct, board-like, color.

"We better just ignore it and go back to the hotel." Brittany said while trying to push them along with her horse. They finally left the beach and put their horses away. That night, they all thought about what they had seen.

Kylen, Aerielle, and Brittany were sleeping away on their hammocks; the thing they saw in the ocean had been forgotten. The pillows and blankets helped with that. The night was so quiet, since not many roads or people were around the hotel. The window was open, and it was a bit windy outside, so a slight breeze was blowing the thin curtains through the room. The cool air was peaceful.

A small creak was heard as a swift foot entered the room. It was furry and looked like a dogs foot, only it was a strange blue color. Behind it came a man's foot and the man was standing behind the dog. It was too dark to make out their shapes and faces. The dog moved quietly across the floor and put its nose into Aerielle's suitcase, sniffing out any contents. What it got, was a bag of cookies. It grabbed the bag, and walked back to the man.

"You're stealing cookies? How about money or clothes or something?" The man asked the dog and the dog growled.

"Come on. These are women here. There is no way that they would have clothes that would fit anyone on the ship." It seemed that another voice came out of nowhere. It came from the dog?

"Let's just go. I don't feel right in here," The man replied and then around to look at the girls. He stopped at Kylens sleeping form and then turned to leave. "Mike will be angry if we take to long. We should start making Trevor do this kind of work. I'm the boss anyway."

"Stop complaining." The dog seemed to say to him and they both jumped out the open window.

"Where the hell are my cookies?" Aerielle was screaming, very irritated at the current moment. Her cookies were missing and she loved her cookies.

"Maybe you ate them already and forgot." Brittany replied, trying to look through her own bag. She wanted to wear her new bathing suit when they went jet skiing today. Aerielle huffed around the room and gave up looking. She figured she could just buy more when they got to a store after jet skiing. Kylen had been sitting on her hammock all morning. She felt a bit strange for some reason. It wasn't that she felt sick, but she had an uneasy feeling.

"You ok?" Brittany asked her sister.

"Yea, fine. I just feel like something happened." Kylen replied and then shrugged and got up.

"You're weird."

"Well, you're my sister, so that means we both carry the gene." Brittany just rolled her eyes and went to change into her suit. Aerielle was now picking out her outfit. Kylen went to her suitcase to get a suit. She looked over at Aerielle's suitcase and then stopped dead in her tracks at what she saw. It appeared to be a dirty footprint. She walked over and closely inspected it and noticed that it was in the shape of a dog's foot. "Looks like the culprit was a dog. I can't believe you missed this footprint." Aerielle came over and saw the print with her own eyes.

"Oh darn…stupid dog." Aerielle replied. Now that she knew that they were stolen, she was even more enraged at the thought.

"It must have come in through the window somehow."

"But how is that possible?" Brittany suddenly said. She had heard the whole conversation and went to the window. She was now in her bathing suit. "We're four three stories up and that is a tiny ledge. It would need human tools and brains to get up here."

"I guess that's true. But we should leave the window closed anyway, just in case." Kylen stated and then went to change, too.

After they had gotten changed, the three girls headed out in the car to go jet skiing. They all were excited to ride on their own jet skis. When Kylen and Brittany were younger, they always had to ride with someone else and that got a little boring. Now they could do it alone.

The day was going to be just as hot as the day before. The sun was shining high up in the sky, beating them as if they baseballs. The heat was overpowering. They had made sure to put on some suntan lotion before they left and bring plenty of Gatorade. When they got to the place that they needed to be, they noticed that the water was nice and calm and the color was light. Even so, seeing anything under them would still be hard. Kylen was determined to overcome her fear of the ocean someday.

"I'll go pay them and you guys go pick some jet skis." Brittany said and walked away. Aerielle and Kylen nodded and went to the dock to pick out which ones they wanted. Kylen didn't have much trouble. She picked a jet ski that was completely black and it had a gray and white streak going down its side. Aerielle picked a gray one with a purple streak. Brittany came alone after paying and got a deep blue jet ski.

"So how far do you want to go out?" Brittany asked them and they both weren't completely sure. Aerielle was about safety and Kylen was still nervous about falling in the water. She didn't like it when she was out really far where she couldn't see anything under her. It was a fear that she had held for most of her life.

"I suppose we could go pretty far, but don't get carried away." Kylen replied and Brittany was going to laugh.

"You can't tell me that you're still scared of the water, Kylen."

"So what…you know how terrified I am of sharks."

"I doubt a shark will attack you, now let's go." Brittany hated wasting time and she drove her jet ski off. Aerielle just shook her head and then followed Brittany. Kylen still felt nervous, but she went on ahead, hoping that they wouldn't go too far out. As she went further, she noticed waves picking up a bit more and that made her even more nervous since she figured it could cause her to roll into the water. But she practiced a bit over the waves and started feeling a bit more comfortable with them.

About an hour passed and the waves were getting a little more rough. Kylen still felt comfortable, though, and still rode alongside her friend and sister. The sky was as clear as ever and the breeze was picking up. All three of the girls were starting to feel the uneasy feeling they had felt the day before when they were horseback riding. They weren't sure exactly how to explain the feeling and they were not telling each other what they felt. Brittany was going in circles around the other two, looking into the water at the same time. A feeling of being watched started coming over her. She felt nervous because of this and thought it best to say something, but then she shut her mouth and just decided to forget about it.

Kylen had felt it, too, though. She now wanted to end this activity and move on to something that didn't have to do with water. She would rather do something simpler, than to be thrown into the water by a large whale tail. The only thing was that she didn't want to ruin it for the others.

"I'm going to stop for a bit. I just want to relax a little." Kylen stated and stopped the Jet Ski. She heard the small sound of the engine turn off as she let go of the handlebar and she sighed at the quietness of it. For a moment, she stared into the water and didn't do much of anything. After a bit, she pulled out a sandwich in the waterproof compartment and started eating it. A lot of the time, she kept her eyes on Brittany and Aerielle and just laughed at the silly things they did, like trying to go in figure eights. A couple of times, the two fell in and overturned their machines. That was the main reason that Kylen decided to stop for now. Kylen felt tired suddenly and put her foot into the water. She had to get over her fear somehow. After that, she felt tired and closed her eyes for a moment to take in the ocean sounds.

"Don't wander too far, ok?" Brittany said to Kylen and she nodded in reply, keeping her eyes closed some more. She just opened her ears and listened to the seagulls and the oceans waves as they hit each other. The slight rocking of the Jet Ski wasn't fazing her anymore. It was actually kind of peaceful. She began humming a tune in her mind and she started drifting off to sleep.

Suddenly, Kylen felt a weird jerking on a part of her body. Being partly asleep, she was having difficulty waking up and trying to realize what was going on. For a moment, she swung her head around a bit and then realized that her foot was being tugged on. It still didn't process, though, and she started swatting at the air for some reason. A hard dose of reality hit her when the jerking pulled her of her Jet Skit and into the water. The cool water engulfed her body and she fought to make it back to the surface. The jerking stopped and she found herself at the surface taking a deep breath.

"Aerielle? Brittany?" Kylen asked looking around quickly. She could see them from afar, but it seemed they didn't realize that she was in danger at the moment. "Help!" She tried swimming back to her Jet Ski, but she felt the jerking again, and she was dragged back into the water, fighting to get free. Bending down, she hit the thing that held her over the head and tried to escape, but it was too strong. She was panicking now and couldn't think straight. She didn't know what it was, and quite frankly, she didn't care. After a moment, she fell into the water and found herself not being able to reach the surface anymore. In fact, her Jet Ski was moving farther and father away from her blurred sight. She was even starting to have trouble breathing from panic. She tried looking down to see what had her, but all she saw was a strange green creature and she couldn't tell what it was because she couldn't see well under water.

A large purplish color suddenly spilled out from under them and a colder feeling hit her. It was like she was being dragged into deeper waters. She started screaming, but only bubbles escaped her mouth and she knew that no one could hear it. This was the end now and she knew that all of her fears had been rational and she should have listened to her instincts.


	2. Oh myPIRATES!

Meanwhile, Brittany stopped playing around on her Jet Ski and looked over to the speck that was Kylen's. She suddenly noticed that no one was on it and she started freaking out. She drove over to Aerielle's side, telling her to stop.

"Where is Kylen! She isn't on her Jet Ski!" She yelled in shock. Aerielle immediately looked to the floating vehicle and didn't see her friend anywhere.

"Oh my god, I don't know!" She drove quickly to it and Brittany followed. Both looked around the Jet Ski, trying to see if she was somewhere in the water. Brittany was starting to get angry.

"Kylen, this isn't funny! Where are you?" she yelled, annoyed. When no one answered, she felt herself start to panic. "Oh god, where is she?" She then knew what she really needed to do. In an instant, she jumped into the water, off her Jet Ski, and started swimming and looking around at the same time. Since they were far out, she couldn't see very much because of how deep the water was. She knew she couldn't stay under long, and she burst back out of the water and on her Jet Ski. She breathed deeply and tried to think of what she could do.

"Do you think this is just a trick?" Aerielle asked and Brittany shook her head.

"She has never done anything like this before. It's not like her."

"What do we do?"

"I don't know."

"I know…" They both jumped at a sudden female voice and looked around. To their amazement and shock, a horse's head was sticking out of the water. The head was very sheik and small. It was almost as if it were a pony. The only weird thing about it was that its head was purple-colored and it was in the water! Brittany and Aerielle just stood there a moment, giving each other looks, saying 'do you know what that thing is?' "Don't give those looks. I know who took your sister."

"Someone took her? And how the hell can you speak?" Brittany asked in questioning shock. The horse seemed to smile a bit.

"Someone to her, yes…and of course I can speak. I am a neopets after all. I guess you wouldn't know what that is though since you both are humans from the other world."

"I know what a neopets is. I play it online all the time." Aerielle blurted out all of a sudden.

"…Online?" The horse seemed confused by that and Aerielle just smiled.

"It's nothing…but what do you mean the 'other' world?"

"You live here and I live in the other world. I live in the neopets world."

"You're really saying there are two worlds?" Brittany asked.

"Yes I am."

"Then are you like an alien that came here on a spaceship or something?"

"Oh no…I came through the portal."

"The portal?" Brittany didn't know what to think and Aerielle just seemed excited and didn't speak.

"Look, I'll have to explain later. The point is, we have to get your sister, quick, before something bad happens to her."

"What the hell happened to her!"

"A very bad Jetsam took her."

"A Jetsam?"

"That's a kind of shark neopets." Aerielle explained to her and then looked back at the horse. "By any chance are you a Peophin?"

"Why yes, I am."

"Wow…can I see your…" Before Aerielle could finish, the Peophin brought up its tail and you could see the dolphin-like fin shimmer from the sunlight. Aerielle and Brittany both had their mouths hung open. Aerielle felt her heart jump with excitement. She always thought it would be cool to see real live neopets.

"Come on, we don't have time for this!" Brittany yelled and the Peophin seemed shocked.

"Yes of course." She turned around. "Grab on."

"What?"

"Grab on." They both sank into the water and grabbed the Peophin with their arms. "Ready?"

"I guess…"

"Hold your breath." And with that, the Peophin dived into the water and started going deeper and deeper, faster and faster. The warm water was becoming cold and this frightened the two a lot, but knowing that the Peophin was only trying to help made them realize that they shouldn't freak out too much.

Kylen awoke to the cold, harsh, wooden floor that she lay upon and rubbed her aching head. She felt like she was a having a horrible head rush. She wondered if she had fallen and hit her head or something, but as soon as she felt the ache in her ankle, she realized that she had been dragged through the water by some strange creature. She tried to get her focus back and looked around with blurry vision. She couldn't very well because of the hot sun shining in her eyes. Had she been saved or something?

She got up from her position and then listened. She heard the ocean and that made her think that she was dragged ashore at some point in time. They must have found her. She realized that some clothes were on her and she finally started being able to see things clearly. She looked down and saw that a rugged gray robe was wrapped around her and tired at the waist with a rope. She wondered why the hell someone would put such a hideous outfit on her.

Realizing that she didn't have her bathing suit on anymore, she looked around for whoever had helped her out of the water, when she realized that she wasn't ashore at all. She rubbed her eyes to see if she was seeing things, but she definitely wasn't. She was on board a wooden ship and it was moving through the water with a quick pace.

The ship was long a sleek; looking like the wood it was made of was from a very deep colored tree. It looked like it was a haunted ship or something. The boat gave off a chill, even in this hot sun. The ship seemed to making creaking sounds as it rocked from side to side. This didn't feel right at all. It felt scary.

"Brittany!" Kylen yelled out for her sister, but heard something that definitely was NOT her sister.

"No need to shout, dearie." She was shocked to see a dirty looking man standing next to her. A weird look was in his eyes and she immediately recognized the look. His breathe smelt like alcohol and he was dressed like he was a pirate of some kind.

"Who are you?" Kylen replied to the strange man and he smiled with his dirty rotten teeth. She wanted to puke when he did this.

"You don't need to know. Wow, you other humans sure are pretty." He put up his hand and rubbed a lock of her hair.

"Eww! Get away!" She yelled and slapped him across the face. She moved back and put her arms up to defend herself.

"You have no right to talk to me that way, wench!" He said and grabbed her by the arm. She felt the tight grip and winced in pain. She already had a painful ankle and she looked down at it. It seemed that a large bite wound was on her ankle and no one had tried to patch it up or anything.

"Get your hand off me! Where am I!" She tried getting away from him, but he held his grip on her arm.

"Your aboard the Revenge, my dear. And trust me…you'll be here for a long, long time." He threw her to the ground and she grew even angrier with him.

"That's no way to treat a lady, Rusty." Kylen heard the deep, dark voice and turned her head slowly around. An ominous figure stood above her, bringing a shiver up her spine. Now she was really worried. Every time she had a bad feeling like this, she knew that whomever she was around was not a good person.

She slowly looked up at the figure and couldn't believe what she saw. A tall pirate stood behind her, towering above her fallen figure. He was at least 6'5 and he had green hair…or should see say fur? Yes, it was true. This was not a man. It was an animal…or some kind of animal. The dogged face stared down at her and she moved backwards on the floor to escape him, but she ran into Rusty and the man wouldn't let her by. The tall dog-like creature crossed his masculine arms and stepped forward in his long red coat and his pirate boots. A brownish-black eye patch rested upon his right eye and a scar lay on his left. A large red captains hat was on his head and it had a skull in the center. A blue ribbon was tied around his forward, and its two tails dance around in the wind.

Kylen didn't really know what to say at this point. The large dog captain somehow looked familiar to her and she tried to look back into her memory and think about where she had seen him before.

"You don't have to sit there staring. I'm not going to bite you…yet." His voice seemed to have a growl in it. He either was naturally rude, or he just didn't like women at all.

"I'm…m…. sorry…" she had to admit that she never had been frightened of any man before, but he wasn't technically a man so she supposed that didn't count.

"You women and your sorry's…you're just terrified little mice aren't you?"

"No, sir…"

"Well at least you have the guts to speak to me." He walked past her and looked out over the ship. "I see we're moving at a good speed today. I don't want that damn Captain Wirtz finding out about her. You know how him and his little friends just love helping people."

"Yes, sir…Threwb was sure that no one had followed him when he grabbed the girl." Rusty replied to the captain. Kylen thought about how the captain had mentioned another man. He had said Captain Wirtz. She hoped that his man would find out and help her. That one sentence made him sound like a great guy. The captain turned to her.

"You'll be staying with us. We need to get more women on this ship…some decent looking ones I mean…by the way, I'm Captain Scarblade. Enjoy your time on the Revenge, ma' dam." He bowed his head a bit and walked to the bow of the ship. Rusty just snarled at Kylen and followed his captain. Kylen closed her arms around her knees and cowered against the wall and then it hit her!

_Captain Scarblade? He is from neopets…but how is that possible?_ She thought to herself. She was suddenly shocked when a pudgy, penguin-like, creature waddled by her with his little arms swinging. It looked at her for a moment and then frowned at her. It was definitely what she thought it was. It walked toward the bow where Scarblade was and she looked back to the ground. _A Bruce…I'm in the neopets world._ She wished that being here would have been a good thing, but it obviously wasn't.

The best thing that she could do right now, was hope and pray that someone will come and help her from this mean crew…the crew of the Revenge. She looked up at its black sails and another shiver went down her spine. If this kept happening, she'd soon become ill from all the shivers. She laid her head on her knees and tried her best to take a nap. She wanted to do anything that could take her mind off of her predicament.

Brittany and Aerielle emerged from the dark waters, holding onto the Peophin for dear life. They were afraid that they would have gotten lost while they were down there in the water. The horse had moved so quickly that the change in temperature of the water had shocked them. The Peophin smiled as the two girls breathed in the as much air as they could and then it looked up into the air.

Brittany and Aerielle finally regained their composure and looked up at whatever the Peophin was looking at. They thought that they had seen it all, but they definitely hadn't. A mighty ship was floating before them, in all its wooden glory. The ship was a bright type of wood and red lines were painted across the ledges of the ship. White sails blew softly in the wind as they were rolled up on the masts and an anchor was put into the water. Crewmembers could be heard talking amongst one another and the two girls looked around for people, but the ship was too tall and too close for them to see anything.

The Peophin then made a whinny sound and a large shadow appeared overhead. The sun was shining too brightly for them to tell what it was, but large paws grabbed onto Aerielle and Brittany got on the creatures back, due to the fact the Peophin shoved her on. They were lifted into the air and then put on the ship in an instant. When they both stood up and looked back, they saw a large Griffin-like creature standing before them. It was about the size of a large horse.

"Hey, you're an Eyrie, aren't you?" Aerielle asked and the creature nodded.

"Right I am, ma' am. The names Moorlo. Pleased to meet you." The Griffin smiled best it could and then looked to its left. Aerielle and Brittany watched its gaze and two men stood before them. They both wore pirate outfits, but they were different. One of them wore a red-coated outfit and the other wore a blue-coated outfit. The one in the red coat brought out his hand to the girls.

"Hello, pleased to meet you, but why are you two here?" He asked them, extremely confused.

"That Peoph…whatever brought us here." Brittany said and the man just looked ever more confused. Moorlo brought up the Peophin and brought her on board.

"Lilac, why did you bring these girls here?"

"Sorry, sir, but their friend was taken on board the revenge. Threwb is the one who took her. She'll be tortured if we don't help her." Lilac responded with concern in her eyes. The man smiled and patted her on the head. He turned to Brittany.

"I had no idea…we'll go help your friend."

"She's not just my friend, she's my sister, and so you better find her!" Brittany was serious and practically grabbed onto the man's coat.

" Ok, take it easy, we'll get her back." The man in the blue coat held Brittany back. He was about her height and he had short, light, hair. He was a very handsome looking to her. She just felt herself listen to him immediately. "My name is Michael Tucker. I'm the first mate on this ship." He shifted the collar to his blue coat and smiled. Then he turned to the man in the red coat.

"My name is Andrew Wirtz and I'm the captain of this ship." He shook her hand again and then he looked to Moorlo. "Moorlo, I want you to the find the Revenge for me. Don't fly too far out, though, you don't want to find yourself tired and have no land to rest upon."

"Will do, Cap' n." He said and then flew off into the sky. His red finger swooped through the air and his wings spread out, creating the look of fire. The Eyrie was incredibly beautiful.

"Now, we'll go in the direction he flew for a bit and see what we can do." Andrew said and then turned to the other neopets that they just now realized had been working on the ship. They saw all kinds of neopets, from Kougra's to Zafara's. "We're setting sail, bring em' down!" He yelled out and the neopets listened. A yellow Zafara hopped onto the main mast and jumped up with lightning-fast ease. A Kougra helped the Zafara and an Aisha did, too. In no time at all, the sails were let down and they brought a new kind of look to the ship. It made the ship more dazzling. Neopets wandered back and forth, yelling out to each other. The anchor had to be put up and the Zafara ran to the wheel to steer the ship in the right direction. It was total chaos on board.

"Wow, they're really working hard." Brittany stated while backing up near the edge to look on at the neopets. She had never seen anything so amazing before.

"Yep, we're like family, so we work hard." Mike replied and Brittany smiled at him. At least she could get one good thing out of this. Mike then turned to the two. "We have some clothes you can change into. I'm sure you don't want to be in your bathing suits all day."

"Well I'm surprised you even know what a bathing suit is."

"We're not that dumb. Pirates may not work that great with all the crazy technology and stuff that's out there, but we know about it." Brittany nodded her head and then he led them down into some rooms below deck. They had wanted to get out of the suits anyway, since they felt a little under-dressed in front of all the baggy pirates. "We have some outfits in here that might fit you, but you might have to adjust them a little bit." He went into a room and opened some dressers. Inside, were some normal pirate-wear and Aerielle jumped into the room, immediately grabbing some clothes. Thankfully, they were a little up to date because they were in nice colors. Aerielle got a purple bandana to put on her head. Mike went out of the room and left the two to change.

"I cannot believe this is happening." Brittany stated and sighed. She grabbed an outfit as well and started putting it on over her suit. Aerielle began putting her own outfit on.

"I can't either, but this is one vacation that we'll never forget." Aerielle replied.

"Yea, I bet Kylen will remember it, too. I sure hope that she is ok…" Brittany finished tucking in the baggy pirate shirt and then she sat down. She combed her fingers through her short hair and looked up at the ceiling. Aerielle finished and then put the bandana on.

"I'm sure Kylen will be alright. She can take care of herself. She may not act tough all the time, but you know how she gets when she's annoyed or angry. The girls a bitch and won't let anyone mess with her." Brittany nodded, hoping that Aerielle was right about her sister being ok. She worried a lot about Kylen, and this was very stressful for her.

"Should we ask about who took her?" Brittany questioned and Aerielle nodded.

"Definitely…we deserve to know." Aerielle ran out the door with Brittany behind her and they went up on board. Andrew was standing behind the Zafara, watching its every move. Mike was helping some boy unload some food out of a large box on the port side of the ship. Brittany felt that Mike would be easiest to speak to. Aerielle kept her eye on the boy, who looked maybe just a bit older than her. He was very handsome in her eyes. He had short, dark brown hair, and bright blue eyes. He was kind of slim, but he wasn't a skinny boy. He looked up at the two women and then, nervously, looked back down at the box.

"Hey, looks like they fit just fine." Mike said, wiping his hands on his sides. He then picked up some food. It looked to be some extremely yummy looking bread. "We got this for you. I figured you'd be hungry after your nice little swim." He handed them the bread.

"Thanks a lot. We are." Brittany replied. "But I wanted to ask about my sister. Who actually took her?"

"Well, she said that it was Threwb who took her…Threwb works on the Revenge. He is one of Captain Scarblade's minions. A very mean Jetsam."

"Wait…are you saying that Captain Scarblade, the LUPE, took my friend." Aerielle cried out and Mike nodded. She nearly fell over. Brittany was absolutely confused.

"What's the big deal?" Brittany asked.

"Well, the big deal is that Captain Scarblade is the meanest pirate in all the neopets world!" Aerielle exclaimed and Mike laughed.

"Yes, unfortunately she's right." He replied. Brittany was now worried even more than she had been before.

"Do you think he would hurt her!" She asked.

"I can't really say. It depends on if he is in a good mood or not. Scarblade has been our enemy for a long time…especially Andrew's enemy. Andrew and Scarblade go back a little. Scarblade is a lot older, but they both are wise about the ocean and hate each other. That Lupe is extremely dangerous and he steals women and money from people all the time. If we can get to your sister in time, I'm sure she'll be fine. But there are some nasty pirates aboard those ships."

"Oh, this is not good, not good at all…this is very bad." Brittany was now fidgety and she moved from one side of the ship to the other. Mike followed her, hoping there was something he could say.

"Look, we'll get her ok?"

"I don't want anything bad to happen to her."

"Nothing bad will happen." He grabbed her by the shoulders. "Ok?" Somehow, when she looked into Mike's eyes, she could trust what he said. She nodded and he nodded back. He went back to help get some more food out while Brittany looked out at sea. She wondered if that Eyrie had found her sister yet.


	3. Saving Kylen

Kylen had been awake for a while and looked around at the neopets and ugly men that were working on getting the ship moving. The black sails still gave her a chill and the cold wood was not helping at all. She had been on here for hours and hours now and her foot was starting to feel like it would come off. The wounds would heal improperly this way. Gross men had been eyeing her the whole time like she was a glass of water on a hot day. Laughs of mischief and bad thoughts filled the air and Kylen was starting to be driven mad by it. All hope of being saved vanished more as they went further and further into the middle of the ocean. Scarblade had been nothing but rude to her ever since she had been on here. Though he was a bad guy, she felt safest around him, since the other men stayed away from her when he was around. A lot of the times it annoyed him, and other times, he just pretended she was like a dog at his feet, begging for shelter. She didn't like his attitude, but she'd rather deal with that, then with the men.

A very tired feeling crowded her mind, and no one had offered her a place to sleep. She would go for anything right now, as long as it was something…even a hay bag. She noticed that the night sky was coming and realized that she had been there all day now. Nighttime would be really bad because of the men and the way they acted. They would most likely be twice as bad during the nighttime. Any opportunity that would arise, she was sure they would take. She wanted her sister there to kick their butts, but she wasn't. She was completely alone.

She had always thought that pirates were cool, but now she hated them. They had bad breath and messy hair, and they were nothing like the pirate hero she had dreamed about…the captain that could swoop a girl off her feet and treat her like a pirate queen. Now, all she had was a mean dog and a bunch of starving men, and it wasn't food that they were craving. It disgusted her to think of how these men were acting around her. They really were just a pack of wild, rabid, dogs. She hoped that she could wake up and this whole thing would be a dream…but of course…it wasn't.

"You best be sleeping now…long day ahead of us." Scarblade said as the men put up the sails and let down the anchor. Everyone was tired and getting ready to go to bed.

"You're dinners ready, Captain." A female Moehog came out and stated. She wore a servants clothing and she was quite fat. Her yellow dirty skin was lined with grease. She appeared to be very mean looking, but she guessed that was obvious because she remembered what ship she was on. Scarblade followed the Moehog inside, leaving Kylen outside by herself. She felt cold now…not because of the cooling air, but because she felt like no one would even notice that she was gone. What were Aerielle and Brittany doing at the moment?

"Hey…" she heard a whisper and turned to whoever was talking to her. She suddenly saw a red Eyrie standing at the edge of the ship and looking directly at her.

"Uh…hi…" she replied and looked away. The Eyrie was a lot cleaner and nicer looking, but she didn't want to have to deal with another crewmember.

"I'm here to help you." That was something she really wanted to hear. She got up from her spot and ran over to the Eyrie.

"Really?"

"Yes, my captain sent me. Your sister and friend are waiting for you. Now get on and we'll get out of here." He said and Kylen immediately listened. As she climbed onto the Eyrie's back, she suddenly felt something grab her by the hair and pull her back. She fell to the floor and the coldness of hit stabbed her back. She winced in pain and looked above her to see Rusty there. He looked extremely angry and he walked over to the bird-like creature.

"Get out of here Moorlo, the girl stays with us!" Rusty said taking out his cutlass. Moorlo frowned in annoyance at the pirate and started floating in the air.

"You have no right to steal women, Rusty! Especially when they don't belong in this world!"

"Stay our of our business!" That was it for the bird. He rammed right into Rusty and they both fell to the ground. He knew that the others would come out and they did. Scarblade and the whole crew came bursting out of the doors and onto the deck. Moorlo grabbed onto Kylen with his large paws and flew into the air. Scarblade angrily ran to the edge and grabbed his dagger. He threw it into the air and the knife almost hit Moorlo's wing.

"Be careful!" Kylen yelled out while trying to climb up the Eyrie's leg and onto his back. They were already up into the air and away from them, but she looked back and saw two Draik's fly into the sky. "Great! Look out Moorlo!" Moorlo looked behind him and saw the two dragons fly at him. He dodged them as they tried slamming into them. Kylen had to dodge a bit, herself, and she even fell to the side of the Eyrie. She grabbed into his think main and tried holding on. The Eyrie tried helping her up, but he had to avoid the Draik's at the same time. Kylen nearly let go of his mane, but managed to hold on and avoid the Draik that was trying to snatch her from its side.

Finally, the Eyrie grew angry and wrapped its long tail around one Draik's neck and threw it around and then into the water below. The other Draik was too scared to come closer and flew back to the revenge. Kylen got back up on Moorlo's back and then rested there for a moment. She was tired and extremely hungry. Not to mention that she was scared out of her wits. Being in such a mysterious place made her feel a little queasy. Whenever she got too stressed out, she sometimes got sick.

"Are you alright?" The Eyrie asked at her queasy look and she started to feel like she was going to faint.

"I…don't know…"She replied and then immediately passed out on the bird. It was a bit shocked, but he managed to keep her on and he flew straight for the ship.

Brittany and Aerielle had been waiting for them to find the Revenge for hours and they couldn't take much more of this. It was nighttime now and they didn't even have any sight of Moorlo. Brittany had been wandering on deck the entire time, waiting for any sight of him. Andrew stayed the entire time with the Zafara at the wheel and both girls were shocked at why he would do that. Mike had told them that the Zafara was named Zaffy, and Andrew had decided to make him the one to sail the ship. Zaffy had accepted the job easily, and was becoming an extremely good driver, but Andrew stayed around just in case the Zafara needed help.

Mike was 29 years old and he had known Andrew for a long time. Though Mike was a lot older than Andrew, he decided to join Andrew's crew after they met. They had been pirates together for at least five years now. Mike had been shocked that Andrew would be captain at only the age of sixteen, but he found that the boy had known a lot about how to operate and work a ship and crew.

Brittany and Mike learned that Mike and Andrew were the best of friends, but they had such opposite tastes and personalities. Andrew was very smart and very serious. He seemed to act as though he didn't socialize with other people very well. He also seemed like the kind of guy that was a pessimist. Mike was completely different than Andrew. He was an optimist in life and he was very daring. He got along with others well and had no problem starting a conversation. Over the last few hours, Brittany had looked to Mike for someone to talk to. Learning all these things from him was fun, but she still wished that she had her sister back.

Brittany was now looking into the ocean with her hands on the ledge. The sound of the quiet ocean was calming her a bit. A lot of the crew members had gone to sleep, but some stayed up, just in case they ran into trouble. Brittany thought that was very noble of them to stay up. It showed how determined and reliable they were. At times, she would be watching them looking out at sea and moving around the ship, and other times, she'd be looking out into the water. The frustration was killing her.

"Moorlo!" She heard Mike yell out into the distance and Brittany looked up excitedly. Moorlo must have found where they were. Brittany felt even more surprised as the bird landed on the ship, and Kylen's sleeping form lay on his back. Brittany came over and immediately picked her off the Eyrie.

"Careful there…she's fainted…poor thing is stressed out and probably starving." Moorlo stated and saw Mike, Andrew, Trevor, and Aerielle came around them. Andrew looked down at the girl and noticed her outfit.

"It's just like Scarblade to give a girl such a horrible dress to wear." He stated and crossed his arms in annoyance. Moorlo just smiled.

"Well, she needs to be rested up now and she'll have to eat when she wakes up." The yellow Kougra came up to them and looked serious.

"I'll make sure she gets something when she does." He said and Moorlo nodded.

"Thanks Kaiba. But I'll be the one who takes care of her when she gets back on her feet."

"How do you even know if Scarblade hasn't gotten to her yet?" A blue Lupe came out of nowhere. An angry and serious look was on his face and he didn't look happy at all. The Lupe walked over to where Brittany had Kylen's head in her lap and the Lupe sniffed her face. "I don't like her. In fact, I don't like any of these unwelcome humans. It was a dumb idea to bring them here."

"Howel, don't be so rude!" Moorlo growled at him. "You always act so overprotective of this ship. They are good people and it was good that we helped them out."

"Alright…it's your death wish…but you'll see…bringing them here was a mistake." He exclaimed and then walked down the stairs, under the deck. Brittany just watched him with angry eyes,

"What the hell is his problem?" She asked Mike, extremely angry.

"Well, Howel doesn't trust anyone he has just met. Just you watch. By the end of this, he won't even be able to leave her side." He replied, looking down at Brittany's passed out sister. Kylen was in a deep sleep now, and she would probably end up sleeping all through the next morning. Brittany picked up her sister.

"I'm going to bring her down to a bed to sleep. I can't imagine how tired she is right now." She said this and then was gone. Aerielle followed behind her. The men were left behind to talk amongst themselves.

"Do you think that this was a good idea? Maybe Howel was right." Mike stated. "Scarblade probably will come after us for stealing from him. You know how he is."

"Look, I know this might cause some problems, but no matter what, we need to help as many people as we possibly can." Andrew replied and walked back to Zaffy.

"Saving people will not make up for what happened to us, Andrew!" this made the captain stop in his tracks. He didn't look back. An eerie silence plagued across the ship and Mike wondered if he should have mentioned it. Andrew just kept walking forward. Mike shook his head and then went down below deck as well. Trevor followed Mike everywhere, so he went down, too. Andrew stayed with Zaffy for now. The yellow Zafara looked up at its captain.

"Will they stay? Can we let them stay?" Zaffy asked his captain.

"It all depends. I they want to go home and not help with our mission…then we can't help that. We'll see in the morning." He replied, looking forward to the ocean.

"I like them. I hope they stay…we haven't had female company since…"

"Just pay attention to the wheel!" The sudden rage of his captain shocked the poor Zafara into quietness. Andrew felt bad for yelling at him, but any mention of that certain incident made him very angry. "Let's put down anchor!" he yelled out and Zaffy stopped steering. The anchor was put down and the ship slowly stopped. Zaffy looked up at Andrew.

"I'm sorry, sir." Andrew sighed after that.

"It's alright, Zaffy." He walked down below now, himself.


	4. The Ship

Kylen awoke in a rush and wondered what she had done last night. Was everything she saw just a dream? She felt a comfy bed under her also wondered if the whole trip had been a dream as well. It seemed so real though. She opened her eyes and looked around the room. Once again, she was having blurry vision and it was starting to bug her. The light in the room wasn't helping either. She got up and thought about how she was going to go grab a cup of coffee when she noticed the hard itchy floor under her feet. Her room in her apartment had carpeting. When her eyes focused, she looked around at the walls and things. She realized that none of it had been a dream. She was in a very decorative room. Red coats hung up on the wall and boots lay nicely lined up against the closet door.

Looking at the other side of the bed, she saw a window next to it and looked out of it. Now she definitely knew it hadn't been a dream. The blue ocean softly made waves as the ship moved forward. It was a beautiful site, but she hadn't been on this nice ship, yet, so she didn't know whether or not the crew was as nice as Moorlo. She'd have to take a chance. She noticed some clothes lay out at the end of the bed, and figured that they were given to her to wear. She immediately grabbed them and put them on. As she was about to put on the slightly baggy white shirt, she heard the door open and her face flushed red. She slightly turned to see a stunned man at the door and she felt the loud words starting to form in her throat. In a flash, she made them come out.

"What the hell? Get out of here!" She yelled and put the shirt in front of her to cover herself up and she grabbed a small vase from a table and wailed it towards him. The vase hit him smack dab in the face and he fell over in shock and pain. It must have hurt, but he picked himself up and closed the door. Kylen was immediately embarrassed because she knew he had seen pretty much of half her front. This was never going to leave her mind. She hated anyone seeing her naked, and a grown man she didn't even know, just walked in on her. She felt like crawling into a corner and dying.

"Kylen? Are you ok?" She heard her sister on the other side of the door and felt relieved.

"I'm ok, but can you help me?" She asked in reply and her sister came in, closing the door after her. The outfit that Kylen was given had a black corset to go with it and it tied in the back. Brittany immediately noticed the problem, and got behind her to tie it up as she held it.

"I think I saw a red mark on Mr. Wirtz' face." Brittany stated with a smile. Kylen then realized that she had thrown the vase at the captain of the ship! She now felt even more embarrassed and slightly ashamed. Brittany saw the flush on Kylen's face. "Don't worry; he isn't one of those captains that make you walk the plank. He's a nice guy."

"I couldn't help it. He saw me partly naked and I just reacted."

"He walked in on you as you were changing!"

"Yes, I know it was an accident, but I didn't think."

"Well, he slept up on deck last night at let you sleep in his room. He said his bed was the most comfortable and it would be good for you. I'm sure he needed to grab some new clothes and that was it." Kylen was now even more ashamed. He was definitely a nice guy who just got smacked in the face with a vase.

"I guess I'll have to apologize."

"I guess so." Brittany finished tying up the corset and left the room while Kylen finished. She put some brown pirate boots on and put her long hair up into a ponytail. She let some strands hang in front of her face. As soon as she was done and she could think, she felt her stomach growl in pain. She hadn't eaten in a whole day and that was driving her insane. She went out of the room and saw the long hallway that led to some stair. Doors were on each side of the hallway. She walked down it and didn't see anyone yet, but she walked up the stairs at the end and the sun brightly shined on her. She put her hand up to cover her eyes and then saw the amazement of a hard-working and nice-looking crew. The ship had a golden hue when the sun hit it and it didn't give the eerie feeling that the Revenge gave her. Happy faces plastered on a lot of the neopets that were working. It made her feel a lot better about being there.

Kylen then noticed the annoyed looking captain that was standing next to a Zafara. She gulped and then walked slowly towards him. He turned and saw her and then looked away. He was definitely not a happy person here. She felt embarrassed just walking up to him, but she had to apologize for what happened. Trying to act brave, she tapped on his shoulder for him to turn around. When he did look back, and he looked into her eyes, she felt drawn aback by the way he looked at her. A strange feeling came over her.

"Well…I just wanted to say I was sorry…for you know…hitting you in the face with an inanimate object." She said, trying to sound a little silly to make him smile or something, but he didn't smile at all. It was as if her statement didn't faze him.

"It's fine…" He replied and then turned around. She felt a little annoyed with him now. She was apologizing and he didn't care.

"Sorry for trying to be a decent human being." She huffed and crossed her arms, walking away. Andrew watched her and then shook his head in annoyance. He looked back at Zaffy again.

"You know Zaffy; I think you've got the hang of this quite well. I'd say it's time for you to be on your own." He stated and then Zafara smiled without looking at him.

"Trying to find ways to hang out with the pretty girls I see." Zaffy replied, knowing that he could embarrass Andrew. It worked, too. A flush appeared on his face and Zaffy looked for a moment, just so he could see Andrew's crimson cheeks. He got a good laugh from that.

"I'm not interested in any of those girls, ok? I don't want any relationships with women anymore."

"Why not? All of them are cute."

"Cute has nothing to do with it."

"Sure…whatever you say." Andrew just walked away from him and then went to Mike. Mike was moving some cargo up from the cellar down below deck. Trevor was a helping him, too. Andrew figured that they were bringing out more food and trying to spoil their guests.

"What are you doing? Do they really need that much food?" Andrew asked and the two men stopped.

"Andrew, you may want to be an ass, but we don't." Mike replied and grabbed a crowbar to open the box. "That girl hasn't eaten anything and she'll need a lot." He started prying the box open and Andrew just shook his head and went down to his room. He hadn't had his chance to change his clothes yet, and the girl was finally out of his room. In fact, he figured it would be good for him to rest a while after being awake so much with Zaffy.

Mike got out some meals and gave them to Brittany. She thanked him and then gave some to Kylen. Kylen practically ate them like a pig. Aerielle was a bit hungry, too, but she had eaten a lot after Kylen was brought back, so she only took a little bit. As the two of them ate, Brittany sat down with Mike while he decided to rest a bit. She wondered why these pirates were so nice to them. From what she understood, their really were no such things as nice pirates. She believed that all those movies where a handsome pirate kidnapped a woman and fell in love with her were all fakes…the imagination run wild when someone liked pirates. Here she was though…sitting next to a handsome, nice, pirate.

"So, what really made you decide to join this crew?" Brittany asked him while eating some crackers. Mike actually acted like he had to think about it.

"Well, I guess it was because I had that natural sense that some people get. That instinct that makes you drawn to the ocean, you know?" He replied.

"Yea, I can understand that."

"Plus, Andrew and I became fast friends. I have to admit that I kind of made fun of him for a while because of how old he was. I never met a captain so young. We hated each other for a little bit, but after that we got close…like we were best buddies from the start."

"That seems nice. What about the others? Like Trevor and Moorlo and all…"

"Well, Trevor came in about a year ago. He was seventeen years old and he needed money and food. We immediately took him in and had him work as our cabin boy. Now he cooks and cleans and does everything he is told. Moorlo was my friend when we were kids and he joined when I did." He pointed to Howel. "Howel was Andrew's friend. You can tell the resemblance. Andrew can be nice at times, and then he can completely be serious. It all depends on the person. For example, your sister threw a vase at him, so now he views her as a threat. Howel views her as one, too. Zaffy came in about the time that Trevor did. He had always wanted to work a ship before, so Andrew gave him the job after a bit. Kaiba was there before me, just like Howel. He is probably the hardest worker in our group here…" Mike went on, explaining about all the crewmembers and their functions. He also explained how they got there. She learned about Ebony and Ivory, the two twins, one boy and one girl. Both of them were Unis. There was Simon the Aisha, Feebs the Moehog, and Kiko the Kadoatie and Toto the Warf, who were both petpets. Lastly, there was Tick the Pteri. Brittany listened carefully, trying to get most of the names down. "Say, do you want to meet the rest of the boys?"

"What do you mean?"

"We have another room down below where some of our men work. They help with the cooking and repairs down their. They haven't been up here because we ran into a coral reef a ways back and we've been repairing some damage down there. I can't believe I forgot to mention them."

"Oh, well that would be nice. Let's go you two." She directed her voice to Kylen and Aerielle now and put down her meal. Mike put his down and then led the three of them down to one of the lower levels of the ship. It was so dark down there that oil lamps were set up all over the place. Small water rushing was heard and the girls looked through the room to see a group of men working there. They all turned around and looked all of the girls over and had sneaky looks on their faces.

"I know it's been a long time boys, but these girls aren't here to be your candy." Mike stated and the boys groaned in anguish. All three girls smiled widely and chuckled and the boys wiped the dust off their faces. He pointed at the boys from left to right. "This is Dustin Boyd, this is Draco Brewer, this is Brydon Saunders, this is Jeff Zwetz, and this is Tim Arujo." The men said hi and shook hands with the girls. A Gnorbu suddenly came out of no where with a crowbar in its mouth. Dustin took it and thanked the Gnorbu. "Oh, this is Argustus…and the little pipsqueak on his back is CooshMoo. She is the baby of this crew." Kylen looked and saw a baby Acara on the Gnorbu's back. Both the Gnorbu and the Acara were adorable.

"Aww, they are so cute!" She yelled and walked up to the Gnorbu, hugging its large mane. The little Acara backed up with fear. "It's all right; I'm not going to hurt you or anything." She picked up the little Acara and it squirmed a bit, but as soon as it saw the look in her eyes, the Acara stopped squirming and just stared. "See." The Acara tilted its head. "You're so adorable!" She hugged it close to her and the Acara squeaked excitedly, its blue fur rustling against her face. The Gnorbu seemed impressed with the way the Acara immediately liked Kylen and it let her pet its large mane. The men all watched, impressed as well.

"So are you guys almost done with that leak?" Mike asked, since they had been working on it for days.

"We are pretty much done, we just have to put in some nails and bend some wood and it's as good as new." Brydon replied, and waited while Dustin used the crowbar to bend a piece of wood on the wall. The girls looked around a bit and then it seemed that they were ready to leave. Mike noticed this and brought them back up. Argustus followed Kylen since she was still carrying CooshMoo with her. The Acara was snuggled up in her arms, starting to fall asleep. Kylen then went up to Mike.

"So why the name CooshMoo, anyway? I mean some of the neopets have interesting names and all, but this is really different." Kylen said to him.

"Well, you best not ask me. Andrew was the one that named her." He replied and then walked up next to Brittany, who immediately started conversation. Kylen just shook her head and walked to the stern of the ship. She figured that she would have a great view back there. She was completely right, too. When she got to the back, she saw into the water perfectly and the sun made it shimmer brightly. The ship was moving a lot faster than she had expected and she enjoyed watching the water whiz by. The wind blew her hair forward and she smiled happily.

"It really is nice here, isn't it?" Brittany suddenly said with Aerielle next to her.

"Yes, it is." Kylen stated back.

"What will we do? Will we stay here for a while or what?" Aerielle then asked out of nowhere. Kylen looked down at CooshMoo and then noticed that Argustus was behind her as well.

"It would be…n…nice if you c…could stay." Argustus stuttered nervously and Kylen smiled at him.

"It would…but we have a home…a home of our own." Kylen implied and Brittany nodded.

"Everyone would be worried about us." Brittany stated. Argustus let his ears droop a bit and Kylen looked at him sadly.

"Why does everyone act so strange with us. Why is it so important that we stay?" Kylen asked him nicely and he seemed to let his nervousness die down a bit. He obviously stuttered when he was nervous or shy.

"W…Well…" He breathed deeply and calmed down. "We haven't had the company of women in a long time. It's not like the human men on here want to get into any funny business or anything, but they feel lonely…at least that's what I think." The three looked back and forth to each other. They could all understand what it was like to be lonely. Kylen had been cheated on and was by herself all the time. She couldn't afford a pet or anything. Brittany could understand because she went through guys a lot and wanted to find the perfect one, but it never worked out. That made her feel lonely as well. Aerielle could understand, too, because she still lived at her parent's house and she always felt like they were leaving her behind. Her sister and brother always went off to hang out with other people and she never really had anyone to talk to.

"I didn't even think about that…how lonely they must get." Brittany exclaimed.

"Yea…I mean come on…how would you feel if the entire world was made of women? I suppose that's what it's like here. These are nice guys and they live a pirate's life. That means that there never are any women around." Aerielle replied.

"Ex…exactly…"The Gnorbu then said and Kylen looked back out at the water and then at the girls.

"We could stay a while…couldn't we?" Kylen asked them and they seemed to think about it. Brittany then had a determined look on her face.

"Yes! We will give these men company!" She yelled and pointed her finger in the air and Kylen and Aerielle looked at her in shock and then back at each other. After that, they just nodded and smiled nervously. The Gnorbu seemed excited and then put its front legs over the edge.

"Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever see the water faerie in there, but she probably always stays in Faerieland." Argustus stated. Kylen tilted her head and then looked in the water, too.

"So there is a Faerieland, too, then…" Kylen said, mostly to herself.

"Of course, what did you expect?"

"Oh, nothing…you see, we've heard of Neopia before, but we never went there. I just didn't know it was exactly like they said it was.

"Oh…I'm surprised you heard of it."

"Hell, I'm surprised it's real." Kylen then noticed the Acara look at her with hunger in its big eyes and she nearly melted at its cuteness. "Are you hungry little one?" The Acara rubbed its head against her and she just smiled. "You are just too cute!" Argustus laughed.

"She really does like you…must be the magic look." Kylen nodded and walked away, preparing to feed the little baby. Brittany and Aerielle stayed behind with the Gnorbu. "Boy…I hope the Captain will be ok."

"Why is that?" Brittany asked him and he just looked to the floor.

"It's a long story…I'm not sure I'm prepared to explain it."

"Well, could you give us a little hint?"

"Let's just say that the captain is nice and helpful, but as soon as he has women actually STAYING on the ship, he gets really edgy."

"Why would he be edgy?"

"Because…he's afraid…that's all I can say." The Gnorbu finally walked away from the questions and disappeared while Aerielle and Brittany were left confused.

"Why…would he be scared?" Aerielle asked and Brittany looked serious.

"It's not just him…it's Mike, too. Something is making all of them afraid…even the neopets. They are all acting nice and stuff, but they fear something." Brittany replied. Aerielle just looked out at the water a while with Brittany.

Meanwhile, Kylen was trying to find food for CooshMoo and failing miserably. Mike and Trevor were nowhere to be found, so she decided it was best to face the storm and ask the captain himself. She felt uncomfortable anywhere around him, but after hearing what the Gnorbu said, she felt a little bit better about it. When she saw the captain, her heart raced nervously. He acted so angrily towards her which she could understand after what she did…but then the embarrassment of him seeing her partly naked got to her and she felt angry with him still.

"Umm…excuse me." Kylen began and the Captain looked at her annoyed. She hid her face slightly in the little Acara's body and closed her eyes. "I just wanted to know if you had any…uh…any food for CooshMoo." She said with a muffled voice and Andrews face went soft. He saw the little neopets in Kylen's arms and smiled.

"Hey, she likes you." Andrew replied and pet the little cat-like creature. Kylen felt awkward because, in doing that, he had gotten extremely close to her and she hated it when a man was too close. She backed off a bit and didn't look up at him.

"Any food please…"

"Oh, well…I have some for her in my room." He was suddenly acting impressed with her and Kylen didn't feel as nervous now. She finally came face to face with him and smiled.

"Oh ok…I'll go do that then." She began walking off.

"Hey!" He called and she turned to him. "It's all right. I'm not mad at you." She walked back.

"You aren't?"

"No. I think the pain was talking for me."

"Oh, ok…I'm sorry for throwing it at you."

"It's ok. If I had been you, I would have done the same thing." She nodded.

"Ok, I'll go get her food then." She then began walking away again.

"By the way!" She turned again. What did he want now?

"Yes?"

"I'm impressed." She felt the blush escape to her cheeks and put her face in CooshMoo's body again. The Acara seemed confused. Andrew smiled at her shyness and she walked away with a quick pace, trying to avoid him now. He had to go and say it…he had to make her feel more embarrassed than she already was. She figured he felt her shyness and had to make it worse. Oh he would get it now…


	5. Krawk Island

Night time had come and the ship was still sailing along smoothly. The girls hadn't even thought to ask if they were going anywhere, but they didn't want to snoop. Brittany had begun making friends with Feebs the Moehog and Simon the Aisha. Aerielle was playing with the petpets most of the time. Kylen was hanging around with Zaffy, CooshMoo, Argustus, Kaiba, and the Uni twins. Everyone was having a lot of fun with their new neopet friends.

Kylen and Argustus had been hanging out the most all day and the two had gotten very close to each other. It was as if they had known each other forever. Feebs, Simon, and Brittany had been playing a game with a ball all day.

The Captain and the other men had been paying attention to the water a lot of the day and the girls wondered why they were doing that, but they weren't going to get into it. It was probably best that they not mess around with them when they were serious. The other neopets seemed to understand where they were going, too, but they all just pretended nothing was happening.

Argustus suddenly looked ahead and Kylen hadn't noticed it, yet. She was too busy playing with CooshMoo.

"Looks like we're here…" Argustus stated and Kylen looked where he was looking. A large fog grew and Kylen stood up, just staring ahead in shock. It seemed that the fog just magically started surrounding them and Kylen couldn't believe it.

"Brittany!" Kylen yelled and her sister and Aerielle came up to them and looked around. The fog was very thick and it was almost impossible to see anywhere past the ship or into the water. Clanking bells could be heard and Kylen realized that they must be close to a harbor.

"Land Ho!" Trevor yelled from the crows nest and then they saw it. The fog dissipated and the island was finally seen. The dark island was ominous and Kylen looked around the shore to see if she could see anything. Brittany did, too.

"Hey, look at that!" Brittany said and Kylen looked ahead to see a bunch of Krawk's at the harbor. They watched as the ship slowly came up.

"Drop the anchor!" The Captain yelled and the neopets scattered. "Bring up the sails!" He was now ordering again and the neopets had no time to explain what was going on or anything. The girls just stayed where they were and looked on at the island. It was incredible to see it.

"Krawk Island…" Kylen stated silently and Brittany looked at Kylen confused.

"Is that bad?" She asked and Kylen just shrugged her shoulders.

"I wouldn't say so." Aerielle nodded at that. The ship came to a complete stop at the Harbor. The girls all looked around, not sure exactly what they should do. Mike came over at put a hand on Brittany's shoulder. All the girls looked at him.

"Welcome to Krawk Island. We're going to stay here for the night." He stated and they all gulped. They looked down at the Krawk's and noticed the mean looks on their faces. "Don't worry, they won't hurt you."

"Whatever you say…" Brittany replied and they all went over and walked down a board that was set out for them to get off of. Everyone got off and Kylen waited behind for the Captain, who got off last. She wanted a guy to be around her because she'd feel safer.

"Ye know that havin' wenches on board be bad luck, mate…" A red Krawk said while chewing on some seaweed.

"Yea…I know…" Andrew replied and walked off. Kylen followed closely behind him. She felt a little confused on why he'd act so strange towards the Krawk's comment. He didn't even pay any mind to her now, even though she was following him.

"Watch it, wench!" A Krawk yelled out as it was trying to pass between Andrew and her. Instead of moving back to let him pass, she jumped forward and grabbed onto Andrews red coat. She buried her face in to escape the Krawk's evil stare. It passed by and Andrew just froze in shock at what she had done.

"Hey, what are you doing!" He yelled at her, annoyed that she grabbed onto him.

"Sorry! I just wanted that Krawk to leave me alone!" She yelled back, annoyed at him for being mean.

"Just stay off me!"

"If you're not going to stop people from talking to me, being rude to me, and calling me a wench then I can do whatever the hell I want!" She then stomped away from him and went to the others while Andrew stayed back, shocked at how angry she got at him. He had to admit that being mean to her wasn't the best thing to do, but he didn't want her that close to him. Feeling silly, he walked with them some more. After a while, they reached a shore of small wooden boats that took them across a small patch of water and to a smaller island that had, what looked, like a bar on it. Kylen hated going to bars because that meant chairs being thrown, hot women dancing drunk around the room hitting on every guy they saw, and drunken idiots grabbing onto her butt. Most of the time, she saw some weird people at bars.

"Welcome to 'The Golden Dubloon'." Mike said while helping each girl out of the tiny wooden boat. After that, they walked up towards the door of the wooden building and Kylen looked up and the cracked and dragging sign that said 'The Golden Dubloon.' It looked really crummy so they figured this was going to be a crummy place. Kylen then looked around it and the trees and realized what this really was.

"Hey, this thing is a broken ship." Kylen stated and Mike nodded.

"Yep, the guy who owned the place loved it too much to completely destroy it so he turned it into a bar. His grandson owns the place now." They finally walked up the ramp and into the bar and the girls were actually surprised. A fireplace was lit in one corner. Some guys were playing darts with their neopets on the left side. Some people were having a conversation on some soft cushions on the right.

"Hey, this place is pretty nice." Brittany said.

"I'm surprised…I thought it would be a dump." Kylen added on.

"Don't judge a book by its cover." Aerielle also added. They walked over to the bar on the opposite wall. Each person sat down on a chair and the neopets scattered around the room, talking amongst one another. All three of the girls weren't big drinkers so they weren't really sure what they were going to do if this bar only served alcohol. A Lupe suddenly appeared on the other side of the counter. Instead of being on for legs, like Howel, he was on two legs and using his front paws to wipe a beer glass.

"Can I get ye' anything?" He asked with a serious look. He was directing the question towards Aerielle. She looked around at the others for a moment, not sure what to say.

"Just get her the usual." Trevor said to the Lupe and he nodded and went on to the others.

"And fer thee rest of ye'?"

"Just get us all the usual." Andrew said and the Lupe nodded and disappeared into the back. The girls were confused now.

"Exactly what IS the usual?" Kylen asked Mike.

"Oh, it's the best beer in Neopia. That's what this place is famous for. That's why its so nice in here." He replied and Kylen's eyes widened open.

"Uh, we don't drink alcohol."

"Come on…one drink won't kill you. It's the only beer that actually doesn't burn your mouth." Andrew suddenly said. He was sitting next to her with his arms crossed and a serious look on his face.

"Don't you ever NOT look like your about to kill someone?" Kylen asked and he glared at her in rage and then just looked away. Brittany wondered why he was so nice at first and then he suddenly became serious and he really didn't like Kylen. Could one little mistake really make him that angry?

They all looked when the Lupe dragged a keg from the back and uncorked it. He stuck a little knob into it so that he could get the beer out. He grabbed large glasses and poured every one of them with the special beer that had a strange blue hue to it. He also salted the edges of every one of them and then he placed them on the table one by one.

Kylen stared at it for a moment not really sure if she wanted to try it. She hated anything with alcohol because it always was too strong and it was bad for you. Aerielle was thinking the same thing as she looked down at it, but she had never tasted beer before. She always wanted to try everything at least once and she picked up the glass and took a small sip. Brittany did the same thing and took a larger one.

"Hey, Kylen! This really IS good." Aerielle said.

"My god…I would never have expected it to be this good." Brittany stated after that and Kylen looked at them and then back at the beer.

"Alright then…" She said and picked up the cup. For a moment, she just stared at it like it was going to gobble her up right on the spot. Her eyes were wild with disgust and discomfort. Slowly, she brought the cup to her lips and everyone, even the Lupe bartender, stopped to watch her. The liquid hit her lips and a tingling sensation hit them. A sudden burst of goof flavor went through her mouth.

"This tastes like…Cappuccino?" Kylen yelled in shock and the Lupe suddenly laughed.

"Yes, dear…that is magic beer...given to me by the great Fyora herself. She said that it tastes like your favorite drinks. The Flavor actually changes as you drink it." The Lupe replied and she then took another sip.

"That's…Strawberry Daiquiri?" She was now excited. She had never had anything like this before and it was unbelievable. Brittany and Aerielle began drinking, too, and all of them were shouting out what theirs tasted like with every sip. The Neopians watched with amusement as the three outsiders had fun with their beer.

The Lupe watched them with shock and the leaned in towards Mike to whisper.

"I'm guessing they also don't know that it can still make them drunk?" The Lupe asked with a small whisper and Mike answered.

"…Nope…" He said and then shook his head. Brittany overheard him and then she told Aerielle, but when they looked over at Kylen, devilish grins came upon their faces. They decided to stop drinking and keep quiet while Kylen downed a bunch of cups.

A hour and six cups later, Kylen stared straight ahead at a keg while she tried to fix her eyes properly. By the second cup, she had already felt funny and now she realized what she had done. She grabbed a hold of her head.

"I shouldn't have had that second cup…" She said with a funny voice and shook her head.

"Kylen…you had six…" Brittany said and Kylen looked at her like she didn't know what was going on.

"WHAT are you talking…bout…" Kylen was now moving slightly back and forth in her chair and she grabbed onto the counter to keep steady. Everything was moving so funny and she couldn't tell where she was anymore. "Ya know…I think…" She stared around for a second and there was a long pause. Everyone just stared at her. "…I think…I'm going to go…sit down… over there." She said and got off her chair, wobbling as she did. She went to walk forward and slammed right into Andrew while he was still sitting.

"Hey…" He said annoyed. She kept her face against his shirt for a second and then looked at his body as if she had run into something inanimate.

"Ugh…who put this tree here…" She wobbled past him and he got off his chair.

"Ok, I think it's about time you go straight into the hall and towards the bedroom. You need to sleep." He said angrily and pulled her by the arm, and down the hall. Brittany and Aerielle stood their giggling and laughing. Mike looked at them like they were crazy.

"Is there a reason why you didn't tell her?" He asked with a smile and Brittany nearly laughed again.

"We just have never seen Kylen drunk before…we just wanted to see what it was like." She replied and Mike shook his head. "I'll never understand women…" Brittany hit him in the shoulder and he laughed.

Meanwhile, Andrew brought Kylen into one of the room and had laid her onto a bed and she immediately passed out. He watched her for a moment, just to make sure she was asleep, and then he walked out, locking the door with a key so that no one unwelcome would go in there. She would be able to get out anyway, since the door only locked from the outside.

When he got back, everyone was preparing to go to bed and Andrew just got the other neopets that were playing darts. After that, he went back to Mike.

"So is she sleeping?" He asked.

"Yea, like a baby." Andrew replied with a smile.

"I've never seen anyone act like that after a beer."

"That's because anyone with a brain would never drink that much of that kind of beer."

"True…well…we better get to bed. We have a big day tomorrow..." Mike stated.

"Why is that? We just came here to rest." Andrew replied.

"Don't you remember? Tomorrow is the one day a year on Krawk Island where Neopians from all over Neopia gather together to turn their petpet Krawk's into neopet Krawk's." Mike said this and Andrew slapped his hand onto his face.

"I can't believe I forgot…we'll have to stay to watch it."

"Of course! I think the girls will love it."

"I suppose…well…I'm heading off to bed. See you in the morning. Night…"

"Goodnight…" Mike replied and then they both walked off to bed. Brittany and Aerielle sat at the a bit longer, having a discussion with the Lupe bartender.

Kylen had been awake for about an hour, being drug around the bar by her sister, since she was trying to get over her hangover. She had never felt so terrible before and Brittany finally felt bad for letting her get into this mess. So she was keeping her standing up and Kylen was slowly, but surely, getting better as the morning went on. Everything was going from being blurry to turning into being normal.

Feebs and Simon then went to play darts with Brittany when Kylen could stand on her own two feet. Aerielle walked over to her friend with Toto and Kiko in her arms. The Warf and Kadoatie were playing with each other by slapping their paws together. Aerielle was trying to keep them from getting too out of control. Kylen watched them and smiled.

"You know…why do you think they would name a petpet after a neopet?" Kylen asked and Aerielle shrugged her shoulders.

"Who knows…," Aerielle replied and finally put them down as they were getting out of control. The tiny animals immediately crashed into each other and started rolling around on the floor. The two had a good laugh watching the little petpets play around.

Meanwhile, Andrew and Mike came from the hall, looking like they had gone through a carwash. Everyone in the room stopped and looked at the two men. They looked and noticed the faces on everyone. They tried ignoring it and walked over to the Lupe bartender.

"How can you stay up all the time?" Andrew asked the Lupe and the bartender smiled.

"Takes a lot o' practice…" The Lupe replied and Andrew just shook his head.

"Well, get both of us and…" he pointed at the girls. "All three of those girls some iced Kougra coffee please." The Lupe nodded and went into the room again. Kylen came over and looked at him.

"What is that? Please tell me there is no alcohol in it." Kylen asked.

"Don't worry, there isn't…"

"Well good…no matter how awesome that drink was, I'm never having it again." Andrew just shook his head and Mike just stared off into space from being so tired. "What's with you two anyway?"

"We don't sleep well when we aren't in a really comfortable bed." Mike said and Kylen looked back and remembered how the bed in her room didn't feel that great either. It felt a bit scratchy.

"That's understandable."

"Yes…people ave' been sellin' all their dubloon's on petpet Krawks so I haven't been able to buy betta' beds. That 'appens as this time of yer'." The Lupe said and Kylen was confused.

"What do you mean?" She asked and the Lupe looked shocked.

"You don't know about the yearly Krawk gathering?"

"No…I don't."

"We forgot to mention it. We only stopped for rest, but we figured we'd stay to watch the festival." Mike stated and Brittany and Aerielle came over to here the conversation.

"So what happens during this festival?" Brittany asked him and he pointed out the window and toward a cave across the water on the mainland.

"You see that over there?" he said. They nodded. "That's Fungus cave, and every year, Neopians from all over gather together to bring their petpet Krawk's into the cave so they can eat a special fungus that only grows in there. When they eat this fungus, the petpets turn into neopet Krawk's. It's a good neopet to have since they are strong in battle."

"And we get to see it!" Aerielle asked, excitedly.

"Yes, we figured you three would like it." Mike said and Aerielle jumped up and down in excitement.

"Yes! We'll go! Right?" Aerielle turned to ask Brittany. Brittany nodded.

"Well of course…it's not like we have anything else to do. We might as well spend our time having some fun." Brittany exclaimed.

"Yay! Can we go now?" Aerielle asked him and he nodded.

"Sure, but it won't start for another hour or so. And it lasts for about two hours itself. Because we spend a half an hour talking, and then we turn the petpets into Krawk's, and then we celebrate with cakes and stuff. We have some of that aboard the ship." Mike said this all at once and the girls smiled with anticipation.

"We should go now so that we can get a good spot!" Aerielle stated.

"Good idea, let's go now." Mike replied and poked Andrew in the arm. "Get the drinks, and have Trevor and Zaffy go get some food."

"Who is the captain Mike?" Andrew asked in annoyance and Mike just slapped him in the back. Andrew groaned and got the drinks with the help of Simon and Moorlo. They neopets had slept on the couches and on the floors since they were naturally used to it. Andrew asked Trevor and Zaffy to get some cakes and stuff for the celebration. The two immediately listened and ran off. Aerielle watched them leave and then grabbed Brittany and Kylen by the arm.

"Ok, are we ready to go yet?" She asked and Kylen pulled her arm away.

"Calm down girl…it's not like we'll die if we don't get there." She replied and Aerielle crossed her arms and pouted. Mike just chuckled and opened up the door to the bar.

"Ok, out you go now. Let's get to that cave." He said happily and everyone followed behind. The neopets went ahead to get the boats ready to cross the small piece of water again. Moorlo came down to Kylen.

"Want a lift?' He asked her and she smiled and accepted. She jumped onto his back and crossed the body of water with no problem. Andrew watched, annoyed that Moorlo liked the woman so much. He would have to bug that bird. Mike finally got the Captains attention and he got into the boat and they crossed. Moorlo and Kylen waited on the other side. The island was extremely foggy, but they could see everything still, except the ocean around it. Moorlo flew Kylen over to the muddy stairs that led into the cave. All around them, people were heading to the cave with little Krawk's in their arms. The little creatures were looking a bit nervous and Kylen thought they were so cute. They looked like little alligators.

Brittany noticed the Krawk's and got Aerielle's attention. Brittany saw all different kinds of colored Krawk's. Some of the little reptiles were even pink and they were adorable. Mike came up next to her.

"Don't you think they're cute?" He asked her and she smiled up at him.

"Duh!" She replied and he laughed. Aerielle walked up quickly to Kylen and Moorlo with Toto and Kiko following closely behind. Argustus came up next to Kylen, too. CooshMoo was on his back and as soon as the little Acara was in reach of Kylen, it jumped up into her arms.

"I guess you took care of my little friend last night." Kylen stated to Argustus and he nodded.

"Yup, but she was looking rather said when you were gone." He replied and Kylen smiled. Howel suddenly bumped into Argustus, almost sending the Gnorbu falling into the ground. "Howel!" Argustus groaned at the Lupe and then looked at Kylen. "He just doesn't like the fact that I'm associating with you.

"Oh…" Kylen watched the blue Lupe walk into the cave and she felt a bit annoyed, but also worried about him. She didn't like it when anyone was rude and she never stood for it, but something about him made her wonder. She figured it was something she saw in his eyes. It seemed like a kind of sweetness and a kind of sadness at the same time. She was really good with getting first impressions off people. "I hope he likes me some day."

"I'm sure he will. It's hard not to like you." She smiled at the comment.

"Thanks Argustus. You're a real friend." She hugged his large mane and CooshMoo cooed in excitement.

Finally, everyone was up next to them and they walked into the cave together. The three girls felt the air chill them. The cave definitely made the air colder than it already had been. Kylen wrapped her arms around herself with CooshMoo in them. CooshMoo snuggled into her embrace, shaking from the cold air.

Brittany clenched her teeth together.

"How can they celebrate in a place like this?" She asked no one in particular.

"Don't worry; when we get to the main room, they set up fires to keep us warmer." Mike replied. He then took off his coat. "Take my coat until then." He put it around her and she thanked him. Trevor and Zaffy had caught up with them, and when he saw what Mike did, he put his brown coat on Aerielle. Aerielle could feel the blush appear on her cheeks. Trevor was just too cute to be real.

Kylen looked back to see the kindness being thrown to the other two and then looked ahead again. She wished that Andrew could be that nice to her. He was the only one who hadn't offered his coat yet. But when warmth surrounded her and she looked over her shoulder, she saw Andrew standing there with a serious look.

"It's for CooshMoo…she gets cold easily…" He stated and then walked ahead of her. She smiled at him and then wrapped the red coat around her so it covered up CooshMoo. The little Acara felt better and kept her head stuck out the top so that she could see everything going on around her. The cave made the Acara a bit nervous, but having Kylen there made her feel a lot better.

For a moment, the cave was getting colder and then it got a little warmer…and then warmer. Finally, none of the girls needed the coats anymore as they entered a large room in the cave that was filled with lit fires. Some people were sitting next to them with their Krawk's in hand.

Everyone gave their coats back and Kylen turned around to make sure everyone was with them. She realized that none of the other boys were with them.

"Where are the other guys?" Kylen asked Moorlo.

"Well…they probably are back at the ship. They must be preparing for us to leave after the celebration." Moorlo replied and Kylen looked a bit sad.

"Oh…I was hoping to chat with them while we're here. We'd have time to do that."

"They'll probably be by later. Don't worry." Moorlo walked ahead and picked one of the fires close to the large pond that was in the middle of the gigantic room. The thing looked to be about fifty yards all around. It really was huge. She had seen the stream in the tunnel that led to this thing and she didn't expect to see this. All around the edge of the water, there was a green fungus growing. She noticed that a lot of the Krawk's were hungrily staring at the fungus, ready to pounce at it.

"I wonder if some of them are excited to become neopet Krawk's." Brittany stated, walking up next to Kylen and looking out into the water.

"I bet most of them are. Going from a petpet to a neopet is a big step in their life. They are the only petpets that can do it." Kylen replied and Brittany watched the water with interest. It moved slightly and she looked to see what could be making the movement. It could be someone playing with the water or some rocks could be falling in. But she saw nothing and wondered how the water could be moving. Since it was a cave, there was no breeze.

"All right everyone, sit next to the fire and get ready!" Andrew yelled to everyone and they all sat down. Moorlo sat next to Kylen and she sat up against his left side. CooshMoo snuggled closer into her arms at the sight of all the people and Krawk's. Argustus sat down near where Kylen was. The two Unis, Ebony and Ivory, flew into the cave a sat around the group. The rest of them found a spot and they got comfortable. CooshMoo felt safer in the big circle and jumped down looking for food. "Here Coosh." Andrew brought out some of her baby food and fed her with a spoon. Little globs of the grape jelly spilled from her mouth and she tried catching them, but failed. Kylen smiled as she watched the baby try to eat. CooshMoo was trying to hold Andrew's hand in place with her tiny pink paws.

For the rest of the time before the celebration, everyone talked and got to know each other better. They didn't even realized how fast time to flew by, and the next thing they knew, everyone went quiet as a certain Krawk walked to the edge of the water. He was an adult Krawk and he was a fire Krawk, too. The flaming colored sparkled on his legs. He stopped and then turned. For a moment, he didn't say a word, but he put his arms up and everyone cheered.

"Welcome Neopians, to Fungus cave!" He shouted and everyone clapped. The girls saw everyone clapping and joined in. "You are here today with your small Krawk's to witness them turn into adults. Congratulations, folks. And congratulations to you little Krawk's to. This is a big step in your life and it is an honor for you to be here this day. All year, your owners wait for this moment…all year, the excitement is bubbling inside…all year, I wait till I can stand up here again and give the speech I am giving now. This is a very special day." He bent down and picked up a piece of fungus. "This fungus! This…special fungus…is what will change you into one of us. All at once, you will come up to the edge of the lake, in a fashioned manner…and take a bite of this fungus…and within seconds…you will begin to grow into a real neopet Krawk…now…may I have a volunteer?" He said this and the small pink Krawk that Brittany had seen before walked up to the adult Krawk. She appeared a bit shaky. "Don't worry little one…Now take this fungus and eat it…show some of the newcomers the magic of the fungus." He bent down and had the fungus in his hands. The little pink Krawk stared for a moment and then grabbed it from his hand with his littler ones. She stared at it for a moment and everyone held their breath in anticipation. Very slowly, the Krawk put the fungus in its mouth and began chewing it. Everyone watched wide-eyed and the Krawk swallowed…they held their breath again.

For a moment, all was quiet. You could hear everyone shuffling their feet around, trying to get a better view. Finally, the changes came. The Krawk burped for a moment and sparkling pink dust flew around it. The body glowed pink and the glowing grew bigger and bigger. Everyone shielded their eyes from the light. After a second, the light was gone and everyone looked in amazement as a pink faerie Krawk stood before them, next to the fire Krawk.

"Our first adult!" The fire Krawk yelled and everyone cheered in excitement. The faerie Krawk happily walked back to its owner and she gave her new Krawk a hug. "Let the feeding begin!" he said this and the little Krawk's all over the room jumped from their owners arms and started running to the edge of the water. Everyone was clapping and cheering. The little Krawk's immediately began eating and all started turning into adults. All of the girls watched as adult Krawk's walked back to their owners with excitement in their eyes. The owners loved seeing their little Krawk's as big ones.

"This is amazing!" Aerielle yelled happily and Kylen laughed. Everyone watched more little Krawk's run past them to eat the fungus.

"So why do they only do this once a year?" Brittany asked.

"Because…having so many Krawk's eat the fungus makes it go short…waiting a year lets the fungus grow back to the way it was before." Andrew replied and Brittany nodded.

"I can't believe I didn't think of that." She smacked herself over the head and they all chuckled.

All of a sudden, a strange thump was felt. Kylen looked around and then looked at the others.

"Hey…did you feel that?" She asked them and they all stopped for a moment to wait. The thump was felt again and everyone in the room suddenly went quiet because it was a lot stronger this time.

"What…what is it?" Trevor said aloud. Brittany looked down at the water and saw it move again. She looked closely and then swore she saw something.

"You guys…" she said but everyone was talking and asking each other questions. "You guys…" she saw more movement in the water. "YOU GUYS!" She then yelled and they all went quiet. "It's in the water!" She said this and then a sudden burst of water flew up and rained upon everyone. They heard a groan, and it sounded like something that Godzilla would make. A large bump formed into the water and it grew bigger and bigger and then the water burst away and a large deep green form appeared and screamed throughout the room, making everyone hold their ears. When the scream was over, they all looked up and saw the large creature staring around at them with an angry look on its face.

"No way…" Mike said in a whisper and Brittany heard.

"What the hell is that?" She asked him crazily and he replied.

"It's a mutant Krawk! Everyone run!" He yelled and started running. Everyone on the room was in a panic now and trying to escape. Aerielle tried running forward, but a person ran in front of her and made her fall backwards. As she tried getting back up, she felt something grab onto the cloth on her leg and she felt herself pulled back with a powerful force. In a second, she was in the air and she screamed with all her might, realizing that the Krawk had grabbed onto her pants and had pulled her up into the air with its mouth.

Kylen and the others looked up and she saw her friend hanging from the mouth of the giant animal.

"Aerielle!" Kylen yelled for her friend and ran forward. She was partly into the water before the mighty tail of the Krawk flew up and hit her right in the body. She went flying out of the water and landed onto the ground at least forty feet back. She grabbed onto her side as the pain hit her body. Brittany got the same idea, but she jumped into the water and under it. The Krawk didn't even see her. She went down into the water and brought out a cutlass that Mike had given her earlier. She went over to the Krawk and slid the sword right into its leg. The Krawk screamed in pain and Aerielle fell from its mouth. Kylen went into the water again and quickly swam over to her friend, who was a bit knocked out from the fall. Trevor, Andrew, and Mike all went into the water to help Brittany while Moorlo picked up Aerielle and Kylen. For a moment, all Kylen could see was the Krawk thrashing about and going in and out of the water. She couldn't believe that huge beast had been in the water the whole time they were there.

Moorlo dropped them off to the ground and stood there with them for a moment. Aerielle became conscious immediately and looked to the water, too. The Krawk went in and disappeared. All went silent for a few seconds.

"Where are they?" Aerielle asked in terror.

"Brittany! Andrew! Mike! Trevor!" Kylen yelled out for them, but there was no reply. She fell to her knees and almost cried, when four figures came to the surface of the water, taking in a huge breath of air. Kylen ran over to them and helped Andrew out of the water. Mike was pulling Brittany with him, and Aerielle helped Trevor out.

"Thank you everyone." Aerielle said to all of them and Kylen put her arm around her.

"Anything for my best friend." She replied and Aerielle smiled at her. CooshMoo ran up to Kylen and pawed at her leg in worry. Kylen picked up the Acara and held her close.

"I think it's about time we leave." Andrew said and they all nodded.

"You guys all right?" They turned to see the fire Krawk standing there. He held a first aid kit in his hand. "Need any bandages?"

"Yea, a bit." Andrew said and everyone noticed that they had a scratch or two on them.

"The name is Jamison. That was an amazing performance." He said while bandaging everyone up.

"We try…" Mike stated while Jamison wrapped a bandage on his arm.

"I can't believe that Krawk was here. We thought it died years ago." Jamison stated and Mike looked shocked.

"You knew about that thing?" Mike asked.

"Yea, of course I did. But it hasn't attacked in a long time. We expected it to be dead. Don't worry though…I don't think he'll be back for a long time."

Everyone on the ship loaded up everything and got ready to leave the island. The girls were a bit traumatized, but they held their chins up and helped out the neopets with boxes and things. The Krawk's on the dock were a lot nicer to them after they had heard what had happened in the Fungus Cave. They apologized to Kylen for calling her a wench, and gave the girls each some dubloon's. They thanked the Krawk's and then got on the ship.

The neopets dropped the sails and everyone watched as the white sheets fell and then arose with the wind. They brought up anchor and the ship started moving. Moorlo scanned the water around them carefully and then came back down onto the ship.

"Next stop! Mystery Island!" Moorlo yelled.


	6. Author's Note

Hey everyone..terribly sorry about not getting a new chappy up! I've been trying to, but I have a bit of writers block with this story. I think I shall ask for help from everyone. If there is something you would like to happen in the story, mainly for the mystery island chapter, then I'll think about it and put it into the story! Anything you want to happen with any characters or maybe some characters that you would like in the story. I hope to hear from someone!


	7. Mystery Island

FINALLY! I got this damn chapter done! Sorry, but it is terribly uneventful. That's why I had so much trouble finishing it. And it's a lot shorter than I would have hoped. I feel bad for making everyone wait so long for this chapter so I will work hard on getting the next one in quickly! That shouldn't be hard since, too, so please enjoy this chapter and I'll get the next one up soon.

It didn't take very long before they were already out of sight of Krawk Island and they were heading directly towards there next destination. Moorlo told them that mystery island was the one place in neopets where people and neopets constantly had parties and celebrations just to enjoy life and enjoy their time together. They would be happy to be in a place where they wouldn't have to worry about large creatures and about mean neopets. Moorlo also said that everyone there was friendly and liked to be friends with as many people as possible. Brittany was excited because she loved to party and she loved to have fun.

Kylen was once again looking over the bow of the ship, watching the water rush by. Argustus was with her and Moorlo was, too. Howel was walking around the ship with that same annoyed look on his face. Kylen wanted to set things straight with him. She left Moorlo and Argustus and walked over to Howel, who was staring out at the ocean now. She lightly tapped on his shoulder and he looked. When he saw who it was, his face went serious again and he looked back out.

"What do you want?" He asked with anger and Kylen felt that spark of anger build up, but she didn't let herself get out of control.

"I just wanted to know why you don't trust us." She replied and Howel went quiet for a moment.

"You wouldn't understand." He tried walked away, but Kylen followed.

"You're not giving me the chance to understand. Why do you despise women so much?!"

"Because women are manipulative and they get into the way. They cause way too many problems."

"But what makes you think that?"

"It's none of your business!" He walked down below deck and Kylen just sighed. She wondered how she would get through to him. Brittany then came up to her and poked her.

"Hey, what are you doing?" She asked and Kylen just shrugged.

"Nothing…tried to talk to Howel, but he hates me."

"I wonder what happened to him that makes him angry at us all of the time."

"Well, if we stay long enough, we'll find out." Brittany said this and Kylen looked out at the water.

"How long will we stay?...will this last."

"I don't know. I keep wondering the same thing, Kylen…but none of us have been on such an adventure before…and we can take care of each other. If things get too out of hand then we will leave. That Krawk thing was just an accident. They didn't know it would happen."

"I'll admit that I am excited about being here. I like the game a lot…and you know I like pirates."

"Yes…look...this IS a different world, and if anything else extreme happens, we should definitely go. It could get dangerous and someone could really get hurt…or even worse. But for now, I know you, Aerielle, and I are having a lot of fun with these guys and we shouldn't spoil that."

"I guess you're right. I do want to hang out here more…plus, I need to find a way to get Howel to trust me."

"See, there is your motivation."

"I guess so…"

"Well, we better get ready. Mike said that we would be heading towards the Harbor of Mystery Island soon. Supposedly, the two islands aren't too far apart." Kylen nodded and Brittany walked back to the bow of the ship where Mike and the others were. Kylen followed shortly after and noticed that everyone really was at the front of the ship. This Mystery Island that they were talking about must be pretty cool. She put her hand over her eyes since the sun was so intense. After they left Krawk Island, it only took a little while to go back to that state. Aerielle had Toto held onto the very tip of the bow with this arms stretched out, like they were in the move Titanic. The little Warf seemed pleased with it. Kiko was on Aerielle's shoulder, looking out into the water with a spacey look.

Kylen and Brittany both then realized how nice this was. For the longest time they had been lonely and bored, trying to make a living by themselves. It wasn't easy, though Kylen was quickly turning into a successful writer because of one book she had made through her high school year. Her role model had been Stephen King, and she began writer Horror/Romance stories. She had finally decided to finish one of them and it was about werewolves and vampires. Also, she made paintings and sold them to an art store near where she lived. A lot of her high school year, she figured that doing this stuff would be hard and easy at the same time. It really was neither of them…

Brittany was different than her sister. She had gone to college and was now working on becoming an elementary school teacher, for she loved kids. She had to have a side job at a bank while she worked for her goal, but she was doing pretty well for herself. She dated a lot of guys, trying to find the perfect one, but she hadn't found him yet. Brittany was a major rebel, which meant that she was very independent. Her whole life, she tried making decisions on her own without the help of anyone at all, and she made mistakes, but she always seemed strong enough to get up and get out of the mess.

Even because of these things, the two sisters remained close for a long time. They did fight occasionally, but they had so much fun together that it didn't matter what the arguments were about. A lot of the time, siblings would split apart over the years and after they moved out of their houses, they would hardly see each other. These two weren't like that at all. They cared about each other a lot and Kylen looked up to her big sister. She did ever since she was little…always wanted to look, talk, and be just as strong as her big sister. After a while, she realized that she could be strong just being herself as well, and she stopped trying to be her sister, but she never lost touch with her.

Finally, Kaiba walked up to the two girls who were standing next to each other.

"We'll be near Mystery Island soon. I think you will have a lot of fun there. They have parties all the time and a training school. We can go there to watch some competitions that they have. Plus, the volcano is a great place to sight-see. Just get ready to throw on your hula clothes." Kaiba said this happily and they nodded.

"We don't…have…hula clothes…" Brittany said and Kaiba laughed.

"Don't worry…you can buy clothes when we get their. We will also pay for it because we know you guys don't have Neopian money. You'll have a blast hanging out with us, girls." He then walked up to Andrew and started talking to him. Howel came back up and went to the other side of Andrew.

Kylen looked back and saw the boys come up from below deck and she was finally happy that they decided to show up. They hadn't been around for a while. Jeff, Tim, and Dustin all went to the group and Draco went up to Zaffy to keep him company. CooshMoo had been in Kylen's arms the whole time and she and Kylen both really enjoyed the company of each other.

Trevor was up in the crows nest still and he looked out with squinted eyes. At first, he saw nothing in the distance so he went back to carving a handle for a cutlass. The second time he checked, he saw a speck of land in the distance and he shouted down to the others that Mystery Island was just ahead of them. The excitement was evident when they started getting closer. Mystery Island really must be a fun place to hang out. She figured that it was kind of similar to Hawaii, since they wore hula skirts on the game and everything. Aerielle went up and looked up at Trevor.

"Hey, what's it like up there?" She yelled up to him and he smiled.

"It's nice. I've got a cool breeze. You can come up and look if you want." He replied and she nodded and began climbing. Toto and Kiko tried climbing behind her, but they were so small that they had trouble. She slowly started to reach the top and finally felt the floor of the nest. She grabbed onto the ledge right away since she was a bit afraid of heights. It actually was higher than she thought it would be. Down below, Kylen looked up at her friend and smiled. Aerielle tried everything she could to have some fun. Trevor took up a small telescope and then looked in it really quick. After that, he turned to Aerielle and handed it to her, and then he pointed ahead of them. "If you look, you'll see the island pretty clearly." She looked in it and saw a bright green island ahead and she gasped.

"It's beautiful!" She replied and then noticed Toto and Kiko whimpering at her feet. She picked them up and let them look through it. Toto shook with excitement.

The others down below finally saw the island, too, and the neopets got ready to get everything ready to be put away. Mike went to Brittany and Kylen.

"You have to remember. We are pirates, so the islanders won't be too fond of us being around. The best we can do is put on a friendly face and try to act as nice as possible, that way, they can trust us." He said and they nodded in agreement.

"That shouldn't be hard since we naturally are nice to people. We havn't been pirates all our lives like you guys." Brittany said and Mike shrugged.

"Well, I guess you guys are our secret weapons then." He said back and then they all looked out as the island got closer. It appeared that some men were already preparing for the new arrival, setting up a nice welcoming. They all smiled as the men were trying hard to move things around and be prepared. It was like watching a bunch of kittens scramble to their mother.

"So tell me. Do you like the place?" Mike asked Brittany who stared at it peacefully .

"Well, of course. I guess we will still get our vacation won't we?"

"Hey, we havn't deprived you of everything."

The ship finally reached the harbor slowly and the same routine went on. Letting down the anchors, taking up the sails, and everything else that needed to be done. Dustin led Kylen onto the Harbor where some people greeted them a little oddly. Obviously, they new about them being pirates, but didn't take any offense, since they did seem friendly enough.

"Ahoy there." Kylen stated, really getting into the part where she was technically a pirate now. The islanders seemed please by the nice attitude and went on like the crew were normal. Andrew talked to a few of them, telling them that the ship was only going to be here a day and then he paid them. Kylen looked back to see Howel come off the ship and he grunted as he passed her. She knew that she had to try her best to get him to like her, or at least figure out why he didn't like her. She hoped that he would someday realize that her and the other two didn't mean any harm. He acted like they were some kind of curse or something. But she decided that this would be the best opportunity to get him to know that they are good people. She then turned to look at Brittany and Aerielle who seemed to be flirting with Mike and Trevor. She chuckled and shook her head. She had to admit that the pirate thing was pretty charming and she could understand why the two of them were acting that way.

She decided to have a little fun on her own and ran off towards the beating of drums and the sounds of partying. She knew that nothing here could be of any harm and she wanted to make the most of the short time they would be here. The sky was the clearest of blues, the smells were incredible, and everyone there was having a great time. She ran through the bushes and suddenly she was next to a great party full of neopets dancing and it was exactly like Hawaii, only a lot better, and more fun. She smiled around at all of the neopets and the people that were dancing with them. Something inside her made her feel so warm and happy that it was unexplainable.

She jumped when Howel came out of nowhere. He had an annoyed look on his face.

"You know, you shouldn't just run off like that." He said with a growl.

"Hey, I'm not on a leash. Plus, what could happen around here?" She asked in reply and he snorted and started walking away. "Oh my…is Howel worried about me?"

"Don't push it, woman!" He yelled back and ran off. Kylen smiled and shook her head. He really was trying, she could tell. CooshMoo was in her arms at this moment and she was acting really excited and practically dancing in her arms.

"I know, you want to have some fun." She said and was about to run forward when someone grabbed onto the back of her shirt. When she turned, Andrew was staring at her in annoyance, just like Howel.

"Howel was right, you shouldn't run off." He said and Kylen felt anger boiling up inside her.

"Listen buddy! I'm not going to sit around you guys like a damn drone being bored out of my mind, I'm going to go off whenever I want to, like an adult, and have some fun. So if you have a problem with that, then take me home!" She yelled at him and found that maybe she was too hard on him, but she was tired of being the 'looked after- person.' She was able to go out whenever she wanted to at home, and that was not going to change.

Andrew was shocked for a moment, and then his face got angry, too.

"You have no idea what you're doing. This world is a lot different than yours. There are dangers lurking around every corner, and you aren't prepared for them."

"Sorry…but I'm not going to let the dangers of the world get in the way of me having some fun."

"Look…I would feel a lot more comfortable if you stayed with the group. Could you please do that? I'll try and get everyone to have some fun later, but right now, there is some business that the other crew members and I need to go through. Until that is done, please stay with everyone."

Kylen sighed and nodded.

"Fine…" She followed Andrew back to everyone and him, Trevor, Mike, and the other guys walked way with a few neopets to discuss something. They decided to do it on the ship, though. Kylen, Brittany, Aerielle, and the other neopets waited behind. The neopets seemed to know what was going on, but Kylen couldn't tell. Argustus was sitting with her and he seemed to have a serious look on his face.

"A lot of you guys get serious, don't you?" Kylen asked him and he suddenly put his face to his normal look.

"Oh sorry…just thinking." He replied.

"I would like to know what this 'business' is all about."

"Sorry Kylen…but we aren't aloud to tell."

"Well…exactly how important is it?"  
"Extremely…it is something that has taken over our whole lives."

"Why would you let something do that?"

"Maybe we'll tell you someday."

"I hope so…"

After a while, what felt like an eternity of waiting, Andrew and the others finally came off the ship with satisfied looks on their faces. They appeared to have worked through whatever the problem was. Mike came over to them.

"Okay, well we've had our little meeting now, so let's go and have some fun." Everyone got up with excitement and ran towards the large parties again. When everyone gathered around there, they kind of scattered and began dancing around and getting food. Kylen was going to get something to eat when she was pulled by a Techo onto a stage in the middle of everyone. A line of Techo's was there and they began dancing. She was stuck in between them and the one that pulled her was egging her on to get her to dance. She felt really embarrassed, but felt her legs start to move and she copied what the Techo's were doing. After a moment, she got the jist of the dance and was moving just as well as the neopets were. Aerielle and Brittany were clapping along with the beat of the music and laughing along with Kylen while she was dancing with the neopets. Andrew, Mike, and Andrew were laughing as well and Howel began cracking a half-smile. Kylen felt goofy, but it was fun and she was enjoying herself to no end.

"Go Kylen!" Aerielle yelled out and the Techo's started dancing faster and with more of a beat. Kylen was beginning to get tired, but felt like she had tons of energy to burn off. CooshMoo jumped onto the stage and began dancing in front of Kylen. This caused even more laughter among the large groups around everywhere.

After a while, Kylen got too tired and got off the stage with CooshMoo following. Brittany and Aerielle high fived her and she sat down at a wooden table that everyone was gathered around.

"Wow, these guys no how to have a party." She said and Mike laughed.

"Wait until nighttime…that's when the real parties begin." He replied and Kylen looked at him in shock.

"You're kidding…man…I'm not going to have any energy for tonight."

"Better start saving then…" Andrew stated and Kylen just laughed and laid her head down. She was still trying to catch her breath. Andrew was still trying to be serious, but everyone could tell he was happy to be here. A smile was forming on his face every once in a while, and when Kylen was dancing, his eyes didn't leave her and he had a sparkle of enjoyment in his eyes. Kylen was like a cure for anyone's depression. She didn't always help, but she tried her hardest, especially when it came to her friends. Aerielle had been so close to her for so long because of this. Kylen had always protected Aerielle from harm, and Aerielle helped out Kylen whenever she needed it. They were practically sister's and Brittany almost couldn't compete, though Brittany was also a wonderful sister at times. She did get a little nosy though, and overprotective as well.

Kylen got up and thought about going somewhere else. She really wanted to explore right now, and her sense of adventure was beginning to come out. Something then caught her eye that she hadn't even noticed before. She couldn't believe she hadn't noticed either…it was the volcano in the middle of the island. Part of it was shaped like a rugged Techo and she carefully scanned the entire structure in utter amazement. Aerielle noticed her stares and got up as well, standing next to Kylen, and just started staring.

"I don't…how did I not notice it before." She said almost in a whisper.

"I…I'm not sure…I didn't notice either." Aerielle replied. They both felt a little silly now. The most important part of the island, and not only did they not see it, but they forgot about it as well.

"It's amazing, huh?" Andrew asked the both of them, smiling from their curiosity.

"Yea, of course it is. With the…smoke…and the…yeah…" Kylen replied and then felt stupid. But it was smoky alright. The mountain was emitting fumes into the sky, not ruining it, but giving it a mysterious look. Aerielle turned her head away and looked back at the other neopets who didn't seem phased at all by the volcano.

"It's not going to erupt is it? No one is acting like the smoke is a bad thing…" Aerielle asked a little worried.

"Oh, of course not. It hasn't erupted in nearly eighty years…" Andrew stated, as a matter-of-factly. Aerielle sighed in relief and then looked over to say something to Kylen, but she was all of a sudden gone.

"What the…Where did she go?" Aerielle asked to herself and Andrew followed her gaze to notice that the girl had completely vanished. He grumbled to himself.

"She is going to get herself into a lot of trouble if she keeps doing that to me…" He growled and then whistled for Howel to help him look for her.

Kylen had run off so she could just get away from everyone and go look at that volcano. She was way too interested to let this one go. Her eyes watched it the entire time she was running. She had just vanished because she knew that Andrew wouldn't approve of her just running off like that, and she was getting sick and tired of not having any damn freedom in this stupid place. The volcano was coming closer and closer towards her until she felt something hit her foot and she flew forward and roughly hit the ground below, knocking her unconscious.

When she started to come to, her eyes were a bit blurred, but she began regaining her vision and then she noticed that something was standing on her chest. She looked down and a little red poof-thing was sitting on her, looking at her in question. She felt a scream about to escape, but when she noticed that it wasn't just a hairy bug, she sat up and let it jump off her and move a safe distance away. It stared at her with big black eyes and it had a little pacifier in its mouth.

"You're a…a Jub-Jub?" Kylen asked aloud and the little Jub-Jub leapt into her arms. She laughed and gave it a hug. "You're an awfully cute Jub-Jub, you know that? So fuzzy and adorable!" She rubbed its soft fur against her cheek. Her eyes lit up in joy and she could practically see the hearts floating in her eyes. It was just too cute for words! "Oh, I love you, I love you!" The Jub-Jub giggled in a baby way and Kylen then realized something. "Hey, where are your mom and dad?" The Jub-Jub then got a sad look on his face and Kylen almost melted. The Jub-Jub then looked around in wonder. "Are you lost?" It shook its body up and down. "Well, I guess I can help you find them, you know?" The Jub-Jub got really happy and jumped up and down. "You're just SOOOO cute!" She rubbed his body against her cheek again and then got up, holding him in her arms like she did with CooshMoo all the time. "Well, let's go find them."

Andrew and Howel were asking around for her, but since she wasn't exactly all that noticeable with all the commotion and excitement everywhere, no one had seen her around. Howel was becoming extremely irritated.

"This is why she and her little squad need to leave!" Howel turned and said to Andrew.

"Come on, Howel, she isn't going to get hurt or anything. And what could she did in this kind of crowd? Everything will be fine." Andrew replied.

"Then why are we even looking for her?" Howel noticed Andrew go silent when he asked and he grunted. "You better not get involved Andrew…"

"What are you talking about...What do you mean by 'involved'?" Andrew was now very angry, because he knew exactly what Howel was talking about.

"Andrew, she is just screaming trouble. She doesn't listen, she's immature, and sooner or later, she will get a hold of you. I know it's been so soon since they've been with us, but you've been acting very strange lately, and I know what's going on!"

"Howel, you're crazy! I keep away from that girl and you know it. She is a pain in the neck and she threw a damn vase at my face. Why would you be thinking such things? Is it just because they are girls?" Andrew felt his heart beating quickly and his firsts were starting to clench. His friend was being silly and acting before he thinks.

"The last time you saved some girls, Andrew, you paid for it…do you want that to happen again?"

"I'm not stupid…there is no way." Andrew was now out of breath. He couldn't think straight because of how angry he was. "Look, you just go back to the others, I'll find her myself.

"No, I will…you're the captain and your crew needs you around. So get going…!" Howel turned and ran towards the Amazon-like forest, prepared to deal with this situation once and for all. He was tired of Andrew being so weak and constantly worrying over these damn wenches.

Kylen had found the base of the volcano and was still looking for the Jub-Jub's parents. She was beginning to worry that they would end up leaving before she could the little guy. She kept looking back and forth in all the directions that she could, but saw no sign of any kind of neopet, let alone a Jub-Jub mommy.

"Well, little one, I don't know what to do…you're as clueless as I am about this." She said to him and his eyes got real watery. "Don't worry though…I won't give up." She smiled sweetly at him and he smiled back. Then suddenly, he looked down and got even more excited. Kylen turned and saw two Jub-Jub's looking happily up at the baby. "Well, what do you know…" She said and put the little baby down.

"Thank you so much, miss!" The mommy one said and Kylen had almost forgotten that neopets could talk.

"Oh, your welcome, I'm just glad I could help. He's a real cutie, you're very lucky." Kylen replied with a large ear to ear grin. She sat down in front of the family of three and said her goodbyes to the little baby.

"The best thing for him was to be able to be with someone." The mom said before walking off with her baby, the dad following right behind to keep an eye on both of them. Kylen just sighed and stood up. She was going to turn and walk up the small trail on the volcano when she suddenly felt a large shake pulsate through the ground.

"What the…?!" She said aloud and tried to keep her balance, but it was hard. She went to look back and suddenly saw a rock heading straight for her. It wasn't a big one, but it flew past her at an amazing speed. It must have come from the volcano. She hoped that it wouldn't erupt! For a moment, she felt a head rush and wondered why she felt it. She put her hand up held onto her forehead, waiting for it to pass, but it wouldn't. Finally, she looked down at her shoulder when she felt a weird feeling there and saw blood surrounding it. Her eyes went wide in shock and she felt herself wanting to scream, but it wouldn't come out.

Her mind went completely blank as she grabbed onto the gash in her shoulder and she looked ahead, not really sure what to do. All thoughts were taken from her mind and she fell to her knees in terror. She never had this feeling before and it was scaring her. And then it happened…she screamed out because it seemed like the only thing she could do right now.

Howel, not to far away, suddenly heard the scream and he immediately recognized it, and he felt his heart sink to his paws. In a second, he leapt forward and ran as fast as he could in the direction of the scream.

"Kylen!? Where are you!?" He yelled out for her and he then ran through some bushes as saw her crumpled into a ball on the ground next to a large rock. Blood surrounded her shoulder as she held it with her hand and he couldn't see the real wound because of it. Howel was immediately at her side. "What happened?!"

"It was…just a rock…that's all…I was just surprised. I'm ok now…" Her eyes were beginning to get heavy as she was about to go unconscious.

"Don't you dare go to sleep!" He yelled out as he ripped off a piece of his shirt. He did best he could to get the piece of cloth around her shoulder and tie it onto it. It was hard since he didn't have thumbs, but he got the job done and Kylen was doing her best to stay conscious. "Ok, know I want you to grab onto my shirt and follow me. She hunched over his body and tried to stay up so she wouldn't lean too much on him, but she couldn't help it. She had lost a lot of blood and she was weak now. "Don't worry, I'll carry you…"

"Thanks Howel…" Kylen said softly and he just smiled back at her, but immediately changed his face to a serious look.

"Don't think anything of it…" He said in a harsh tone and began the arduous task of carrying her through the forest. As he did this, he kept checking to make sure she stayed awake. Whenever he checked, she was staring ahead and trying her best to keep her eyes open. 'Well at least she listens SOMETIMES!' he thought to himself and then found the clearing to where everyone was.

Aerielle was the first to notice Howel carrying a very tired looking Kylen into the crowd of people. She had something white on her and it was drenched with blood.

"Oh my god!" Aerielle yelled out in terror and Brittany finally looked. She saw it, and she ran to her sister's side in a rush. Aerielle was there, too.

"What happened?!" Brittany asked in shock and Andrew was suddenly at her side as well. He picked her up off of Howel and carried her in his arms.

"Yea Howel, what happened?" Andrew asked a bit enraged at Howel.

"Hey, don't talk to me like that! The volcano shook and spit out a volcanic rock and it hit her shoulder." Howel replied and Andrew sighed and carried Kylen all the way to the ship to let her rest and to make sure her body had time to regain the amount of blood she had in her body before back. He now hated himself for this. Every time he decided to try and help someone, they seemed to always get hurt…or worse…but he was trying his best. It was hard, though, because he was trying to not get to know them…he wanted to be able to get through this, get their help, and then let them go home. It wouldn't work, however, if he couldn't protect them from harm, but not wanting to be near them wasn't exactly a way of protecting them.

'Stop it, Andrew…you're confusing yourself now…just let her rest and she'll be fine…she will…' he thought to himself while sitting her down on his bed in his room. She was completely knocked out, and he wasn't sure exactly when that happened, but he didn't worry too much.

He was about to leave, but he suddenly looked down at her and couldn't take his eyes away. Even in her state, she looked…incredible. He had not been able to look at a woman this way in a long time. An urge made him take his hand down and brush away a strand of hair from her face. She stirred at the touch of his hand against her cheek and that stir made him walk backwards and curse to himself.

"Don't you dare, Andrew…" He said to himself. Why was it that women always had this effect on men? He turned around and walked out the door, closing it behind him, and then leaning against it. He began rubbing his temples to ease the headache that was coming on. He couldn't start doing this. He couldn't get involved in any way…he knew that Howel was right. He couldn't tell himself that his canine friend was wrong because he was starting to do it…again.

"How is she?" Andrew looked up to see Mike with a serious look on his face.

"She's fine…" Was all he replied with. "She's asleep now…"

"That's good…" Mike began and then he looked down at the floor for a moment. When his eyes came back up, he had a sincere look on his face. "It's not a bad thing Andrew…" Andrew looked up with his eyes aflame.

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Come on…she's getting to you, I can see it." Mike had a nice smile on his face and he crossed his arms across his chest.

"You're being a fool…" He said and began walking past Mike, but he let his arm out to stop Andrew in his tracks.

"Don't even think about walking away from me, Captain!" Mike said 'Captain' in a harsh way. Andrew looked at him with anger. "You need to stop listening to that damn dog of yours. I get sick and tired of the way he treats everyone, and I can see that it is starting to rub off onto you as well. These girls are NOT trouble. They are beautiful, and kind, and they need our help just as much as we need theirs."

"That doesn't mean that I can get involved Mike…don't make it sound okay…"

"I'm not…and I understand your worry. It makes perfect sense…but don't take your anger out on Kylen. Ever since she has been here, you've been hesitant to make one sign of kindness and sincerity towards her and can't you realize that it can be torture for someone to be treated like a Martian?" Mike said this and Andrew sighed.

"Yes…I'm sorry…"

"Well at least I got a sorry out of you. Haven't gotten one of those in a long time." Mike had a big grin on his face now and he put his arm down, putting it around Andrew's shoulder instead. "Come on, buddy, let's go enjoy our stay while she rests." Andrew nodded and followed Mike out from below deck and back onto the island. When they got to the other, everyone was awfully quiet like they had just been discussing something. Andrew noticed that the most and folded his arms to his chest.

"Okay, what's going on?" He asked everyone and they all just looked away from him, pretending to be distracted by something else.

"Everyone is talking about strange things, ok…just ignore it." Howel stated in a harsh tone, and Aerielle and Brittany were annoyed, but they tried to ignore it since Andrew just agreed and sat down, deciding not to dwell in the confusion.

"So is she ok?" Aerielle asked.

"You better not have messed with her." Brittany stated with suspicion in her eyes.

"She's fine…and no…I did not mess with her!" Andrew said and figured that touching her cheek like he did would not count as 'doing something'.

"Well if I ever find out that you do something with her, you're dead!" Brittany exclaimed harshly. Andrew just sighed for the thousandth time today and sipped from a cup that was just given to him by Zaffy. He wanted to escape this conversation as fast as he possibly could.

"So tell me; what was that meeting really about?" Aerielle asked him curiously.

"It's kind of private." He replied and was terribly hesitant about saying anything about it.

"Why can't you tell us? I mean…it isn't life changing I'm sure…"

"Actually…it kind of is." Aerielle and Brittany were taken to an incredible silence and they stared at him with a hint of fear.

"Andrew…if this is really important then we want in on it." Brittany stated firmly and Aerielle nodded as an add-on.

"We will tell you…we will. Just give us some time to think of how to do that." Mike leapt in and said, saving Andrew from a big problem.

"Alright…but don't keep us waiting too long." Brittany said this and then that conversation was over.

Kylen felt a cool breeze and she sat up, her head hurting a little, but other than that, she was fine. After as second, she finally remembered what happened and took her bandage off quickly, seeing that only a barely noticeable scar remained in the spot that the rock had slashed her.

"What the…how is that possible!" She yelled to herself and felt a little leap on the bed to see Coosh Moo there staring at her in worry."

"That's the great thing about this place…" Kylen was startled when she heard the voice and saw Howel sitting in the corner of the small room. "We most likely have medicines that are a lot more advanced here then where you lived."

"So, you helped it heal?"

"Yes I did…though I may seem mean at times, but I am not that bad a dog…" He said this and Kylen smiled.

"Gee Howel…thank you so much."

"Like I said before, don't think anything of it…" He was about to turn and leave…

"Wait Howel…" She said his name and he grumbled under his breath and turned to look at her. "I know you don't like me too much and all, but I sure do hope that we can be friends…someday…and I know you're a great guy…I mean dog…" Kylen chuckled at what she said and Howel just nodded and turned. When he was out in the hall, he sighed to himself and looked at his paws while he was walking up on deck.

'Don't let her fool you, Howel…she's not a bad person, but you CANNOT be her friend…' he thought to himself. He didn't want to be mean to her or the others, but he couldn't help it.

When Kylen went out to see the others, they all gave her a hug and made sure she was fine. She was a little tired, but that was pretty much it.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" Andrew asked her and she nodded and followed him a little ways away from the crowd. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry for the way I've been acting…I know that I haven't exactly been the life of the ship, but I didn't mean to be rude at any time. So, I just wanted to let you know that it would be great if we were friends." He said this all kind of quickly and then put out his hand. She smiled a wide one and then shook his hand.

"Well thanks…it's good that we are all getting somewhere."

"Yea, and I plan on telling the three of you about our little meeting earlier today, but for now, lets just have some fun."

"I'm up for that!" She said and then ran back to the others. For the remainder for their stay, they all pretty much partied all day and some of the night. There was a ritual being held at the top of the volcano and Kylen was given the gift of a red codestone. It was so beautiful and she was incredibly grateful to the Kougra neopet that gave it to her. All in all, the three girls had a lot of fun and hoped that the rest of their adventure around this world could be just the same way.


	8. The Swords and The Pain

_Hey, been a while since I've updated and I don't think anyone even reads my story, lol, but I'll keep updating in hopes of finishing it someday. I love this story and will continue to get it up and running. Enjoy! I don't own neopets though I wish I did!!!_

_ALSO! VERY IMORTANT! MIKE'S NAME HAS BEEN CHANGED TO TODD FOR SPECIFIC REASONS! JUST TO MAKE SURE THERE IS NO CONFUSION!!!!_

* * *

The ship sailed lightly across the water as everyone on board was chatting away with each other. The neopets were starting to get to know the girls a lot better as were the girls getting to know the neopets. Silly questions were asked like "What is you favorite color?" and "What do you want to do when you grow up?" Kylen had told the neopets that she wanted to be a writer and Andrew found that to be pretty interesting. And yes…Andrew actually decided to sit around listening to the three girls and their stories. For once, he decided that them being around was not such a bad thing and he could give them a chance to his friends. Howel still kept his distance, but Kylen could tell that his defenses were starting to crumble. She found him sticking around more and listening in on the conversation. She began to get excited because of this. Ever since she had been here, she found her normal old self coming back and it felt really nice. She never wanted to be a cold person, and they were starting to save her. 

"So, Kylen…what made you guys decide to go to Hawaii?" Argustus asked and the three girls suddenly went quiet. Kylen looked at her hands and fiddled her fingers nervously.

"Well…we just like going on vacation, that's all…" Aerielle started, but Kylen stopped her.

"Don't lie Aerielle…we wouldn't have done it just for that. Hawaii is very expensive of course…" She said and then looked back to Argustus. "Look, I can't give you the details, but someone hurt me and they wanted me to take my mind off of it." Argustus went silent himself then, and his llama-like ears lopped to the sides of his face.

"I'm sorry…" Argustus started.

"Don't be sorry!" Kylen replied and startled him a bit. "You don't need to apologize for something that I am completely over." She said this all a bit quickly and cursed at herself for lying to her new friend. She knew she wasn't over it, but she couldn't help it. Worrying everyone was the last thing she wanted to do and she just really did not want any of them to know about it. She looked over at Andrew and saw a concerned look on his face. This made her heart leap into her throat. 'Great…I hope I don't get a thousand questions now…' She thought to herself and scratched the back of her head for a second. "Well anyway!" she started with a nervous giggle and everyone just stared strangely at her. 'This may be an odd day…' she decided it was a bit of a pain getting stared at strangely, especially when it's about something you really just don't want to talk about it.

It had been only a week since they had found this place and it was going to take a while to get to Faerieland. She was a bit nervous to go there because the only thing she could think about was the Queen. Would she see her? Would she be able to talk to her? What about the other faeries? The excitement was unbearable. Kylen went to the stern of the ship and rested her elbows on it. She found herself doing this a lot when they were moving to another island. It was just a way for her to escape from everyone, since they usually hung out at the front of the ship. Her mind always needed to think and this was the best way to do just that.

"You need to stop running away every time things get scary." She turned to see Andrew staring at her with crossed arms. With the material squeezing against them, she could almost see the bulge of muscles through the material, but maybe it was probably her imagination.

"I'm not running away…I just need to think when I get a little stressed." She replied, smiling that he was worried about her. He had the most sincere look on his face, and that was something that she wasn't used to. He was finally opening up to everybody and she didn't want to ruin it by not opening up to him.

"Will you tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

"Tell me about who hurt you…" He said this and she looked down at the wooden floor for a moment. When he head came back up she sighed and nodded. She motioned for him to come to the edge with her and she put her elbows back in her spot.

"It was a few months ago when it happened. I had been together with a guy for about a year and a half and I wanted to marry him. I truly thought that we could have a future together and I was stupid enough to think that he loved me. It was those few months ago when I found out that he was secretly seeing a thirteen year old girl behind my back and I was so disgusted. He told me that I was a snoopy girlfriend and called me bad names and denied it, but I caught him in the act, he just didn't see me and I figured it best not to confront him in front of the young girl because I knew it wasn't her fault. She was so young and he probably used and tricked her into thinking that she was something special when she was just a plaything for him. After that, we broke up and I was having enough trouble in my life as it was with school and all…."This was the incredibly shocking part for Andrew.

"He must have been really crazy, huh?" He asked this to make her smile a bit and she did, but it died quickly.

"I guess it shouldn't be a big deal…but when you care for someone and you find out you aren't worth caring for right back…well…it really just hurts…"

"I'm so sorry, Kylen…" He said this and then grabbed her by her arm and pulled her into a warm embrace. In doing so, she finally felt the firm muscles of his arms holding her tightly yet also gently at the same time. She also felt the muscles that were chiseled along his stomach. Her cheeks turned a violent shade of crimson as she began thinking of terrible thoughts that she shouldn't think of. She shook her head and then smiled at him, accepting the hug with same intensity.

"Thanks Andrew...but it's really okay. I've never been this happy in a long time. Sure, pretty interesting things have happened so far and I've been hurt, but it just seems like I'm kind of home, you know?"

"I understand…it is pretty nice here I suppose…" She saw the look in his eyes and it was almost like he couldn't believe what he just said. She became worried of this and then noticed his eyes trail down and she didn't understand what he was looking at until she looked down, too. Since she was hugged tightly against his body, her breasts had been pushed a little together and a little upwards, causing her to have incredible cleavage. She once again blushed and pulled away from him. "Oh, I'm sorry…" He now felt silly, but with her breasts smashed against him like that, he couldn't help but take a look. It didn't exactly matter though, since he had already seen her bare chest. He just didn't tell her that he saw all of it in perfect view and he had to admit that he couldn't stop thinking about it. Her breasts were perfect and her skin was a perfect ivory as well.

"Oh, it's ok…I guess we shouldn't have been hugging so close…well…I'm going to go take a nap. I need to have all the energy I can get for when we reach the island.

"Ok, I'll see you later then…" He said this and she walked away. A feeling that he had missed something came over him and he realized what it was. Something inside him wished that he could be invited to her room to stay with her, but then he remembered Howel's words. "Oh damn…" He smacked himself in the head. He told himself he wouldn't get involved and he was thinking sexual things about this woman. Why did she have to be so beautiful and perfect….he had to get his mind off of it, too, and decided to sleep as well.

* * *

"Kylen?!" Kylen stirred in her sleep as the voice called out to her and she opened one eye to see Aerielle's face looking at her. Kylen grumbled and put a pillow over her head, mumbling something incoherent and then falling asleep again. Aerielle growled and grabbed the pillow, causing Kylen to wake up again in dismay. 

"Go away!" She yelled out, trying to turn and sleep some more.

"Kylen, we're in trouble!" Aerielle yelled out. She got up at those words and looked at Aerielle's sudden distressed face.

"What the hell is the matter?" She asked.

"Be prepared for this…The Revenge is closing in on us!" Aerielle said this and Kylen felt her heart drop into her stomach.

"What?..."

"Yea, you better get up on deck quickly because I think they have come back for you." Kylen felt scared now.

"No…I don't want to go back."

"Don't worry…Andrew got really angry and said that they wouldn't touch you or he'd kill every single one of them with bare hands." Aerielle said this and Kylen felt a wave of relief flood over her all of a sudden. Would Andrew protect her and risk his own life? She decided not to think about it and followed Aerielle up on deck and noticed everyone looking in a certain direction as Zaffy desperately tried moved the ship as best he could. Kylen looked and saw it…it was the dark evil ship she had been on when she first got here and she felt a nauseous feeling hit her. The thought of being ogled at by nasty pirates, having to be looked at with evil eyes from Scarblade, and thinking about sleeping on a cold floor, made her feel like she had to throw up. She grabbed onto her stomach and put her hand over her mouth, feeling like something was going to go up her throat. She felt a reassuring hand on her back and she looked up to see Andrew with a smile on his face.

"You'll be fine, Kylen…I won't let him hurt you." He said and the sickly feeling left her quickly. She nodded and looked back to see that the Revenge had reached them already and Andrew told Zaffy to come to a halt. This took about ten minutes and Scarblade then had his ship directly next to Andrew's, their wooden bodies only a mere ten feet apart. Angry neopets looked over at the friendlier ones, who decided that they would put on angry faces as well. Kylen was shocked when Argustus, Coosh Moo, Moorlo, and Howel stood in front of her, protecting her from the angry eyes of the Revenge's crew.

"Man, Andrew, you sure have turned these girls into pure pirates…" Scarblade stated with a side grin. Andrew sneered at the comment, his dislike for Scarblade growing, but he was going to remain calm and probably piss of the Lupe captain on purpose. Kylen felt terror-stricken as Scarblade deflected his gaze to turn and look at her. Andrew felt inflamed as Scarblade scared Kylen and he came closer to the edge so he could get a good look at Scarblade.

"I want you to just leave us alone Scarblade, you damn mongrel." Andrew stated firmly and roughly. The Lupe felt a snicker about to escape, but he held it in and then snapped his fingers. All of a sudden, Rusty came into view and he held Zaffy in his grip. Kylen and the others gasped in shock. When did they get on the ship?! Kylen felt her hands trembling at the thought that they would hurt the Zafara.

"Let him go, Scarblade!" Kylen yelled out and Andrew watched her as tears began to fill her eyes. She didn't want someone getting hurt because of her.

"Sure, you can have the yellow kangaroo back…but on one condition." Scarblade began and he crossed his arms. "You stay on my ship!" He pointed directly at Kylen and she felt the tears beginning to fall and she looked down at the ground, unable to think of what to do. She couldn't let him hurt Zaffy.

"Hell no!" Andrew yelled out and pointed his own finger at Scarblade. "Give Zaffy back now! Surely we can come to another compromise!"

"I'm afraid not…" Scarblade stated and sent a plank out on the side of his ship. It was short and everyone stared at the poor Zafara who was tears in his own eyes, but also a determined and angry look on his face. Kylen looked up at him. They put a cutlass' point against his back. "Surrender her to me, or your friend will fall!" Andrew tried racking through his brain. He needed to do something, but he wasn't sure what that was right now.

"Don't hurt him! I'll come freely!" Kylen said and ran to the edge of the ship. She began the hard task of getting over to the plank next to Zaffy.

"Kylen, don't you dare!" Brittany yelled out in anger and tried to run up to her, but the look on Kylen's face made her stop dead in her tracks.

"I can't let them hurt Zaffy!" She said with tears streaming down her face. She then looked back at the Zafara whose eyes searched in her own. He looked thankful, but extremely worried at the same time.

"You don't need to do this, Ms. Kylen…" Zaffy said and she melted at how he said her name. He was so adorable and he was a good friend to her now. She couldn't let them kill him. She climbed onto the plank and tried steadying herself, since the plank was wobbling a bit. She was about to walk onto the Revenge when both ships suddenly shook and Kylen and Zaffy both went tumbling into the water below.

"Kylen! Zaffy!" Everyone yelled out and they all looked over the ship. They couldn't see anything except Kylen and Zaffy coming up for air. Zaffy struggled to keep up, but his short arms made it impossible for him to do so. Kylen used all the strength she could to hold onto him and keep his afloat.

"What was that?" Andrew yelled out and no one quite knew what it was. He ran to the other side of the ship where Scarblade's ship wasn't and looked down into the water to see something strange moving through the water, its massive green body snaking through. Realization dawned on him and he realized where they were. "Damnit, we went the wrong way!" He yelled to the others and realized that they had not gone the direction of Faerieland, but the direction of Maraqua. Now, he knew exactly what was going on. "It's the Sea slug!" He said to everyone and they all gasped.

Kylen and Zaffy could hear yelling, but couldn't understand a damn word that anyone was saying.

"Let's get out of here!" Scarblade yelled out and there boat sailed off at a quick speed. Andrew cursed under his breath. "Hope you have luck finding those swords, Andrew!" He heard Scarblade yell and Aerielle was the only other person who heard it. What swords could that be?

Kylen held onto Zaffy tightly, feeling her energy starting to leave her body. She was having trouble staying up herself now.

"What do you think they're babbling about up there?" Zaffy asked his friend and Kylen shrugged as best she could.

"I think the real question is what shook the ships?" Kylen said as she realized that they had fallen for a reason. If it was something powerful enough to knock both the ships at the same time, it could be something huge…really huge! She felt her heart starting to race as the sea moved from under her and she felt something touch her leg. In a motherly act, Kylen pulled Zaffy closer to her body and held him so that no limbs were hanging about. She didn't want him to get bitten by some big fish or something. Zaffy noticed her sudden worry and it moved into him as well.

"What is wrong?" He whispered to her and she just shook in the water, knowing that it wouldn't help, but she couldn't help it.

"You guys just stay completely still!" Kylen finally heard the soothing voice of Andrew as he hung his upper body slightly over the edge of the ship. Moorlo jumped off the ship and was going to pick them up until a huge wave came out of the water and a large tail-like thing hit him roughly and he went flying back up onto the ships deck.

"Moorlo!" Kylen yelled out for him in worry, but another large wave was coming up, only this time, it was heading for Kylen and Zaffy. On instinct, Kylen pushed Zaffy away from her and he tried his best swimming to the edge of the ship. When he got there, he grabbed onto a part of the wood and held on. He quickly looked back at her. Kylen was surprised when the wave disappeared, but she was not out of danger in the least. She felt something hard under her foot and suddenly, it came up from the water and this caused Kylen to be sitting on a small island-like shell. When she looked down, she saw a large green head looking at her. She now knew what it was, but it seemed to be unsure of what to do with her. "Why is it always me!?" She yelled out to herself and the monster seemed to laugh. Her eyes blinked a few times in question and then she looked down at it. When she looked at the others on the ship, they all looked confused as well.

"I'm not as bad as the stories say, you know…" The monster said his voice massive and shaking.

"Uh…well…I…uh…" Kylen started and he laughed again.

"Everyone thinks I'm an evil monster, but I just don't like it when people come into my home without asking."

"Oh, you mean the Maraquan Ruins?"

"Yes, I suppose I shouldn't have picked that particular place, but it was nice for me and it's my home now…nothing I can do about it."

"So why are you here now?"

"Well, you guys and the other ship came over top my home and I was hearing a lot of commotion so I came to investigate. When I saw Scarblade, I immediately knew that I had to help you guys."

"Oh wow…well…thank you. I appreciate it…" Then Kylen thought of something again. "Hey…why did you hit Moorlo!?" She was now a bit angry and once again, he laughed.

"Sorry, that was an accident. I went to give myself some thrust through the water and I ended up getting my tail out of the water and hitting him. Complete mistake…"

"Alrighty then…well, I appreciate your help."

"Your welcome." He said and then helped Zaffy onto his shell. He helped Kylen and Zaffy get back up on the ship. They waved their goodbyes to the large monster and Kylen sighed out loudly in relief. She just barely escaped the clutches of Scarblade. She now realized that she wouldn't have a moment's peace while being here. She supposed that she would be ok. Andrew told her that he wouldn't let anyone hurt her…yea…she ought not to worry. Andrew was now next to Kylen with a thankful look on his face. She looked so cute at this moment in time. Her hair and clothes were soaked and her hair was matted down onto her face. Her cheeks were red from the shock of it all. Then he realized it…her clothes…Andrew blushed wildly and looked away. He coughed and Kylen looked down, noticing that the white part of the shirt that covered her breasts was now see through and he saw a little more then he expected. She gasped in shock and pulled the part of the shirt forward.

"Why me…" Why was it that everytime she was around him, her chest just loved to show itself? She grumbled and walked below deck to get out of the clothes until hey dried. Andrew watched her leave and the red on his face began disappearing.

"Captain, do you like her?" He turned and Moorlo was there, a cheeky grin on his bird face.

"Moorlo, you are snoopy…" Andrew growled to him. Moorlo just laughed. Andrew didn't mind all that much since he had seen her breasts before, but it was still a shock to him, and the feelings that surged through his body when he saw her like that made him worried.

* * *

It had taken forever, but they had finally reached Faerieland and Kylen, Aerielle, and Brittany could have fallen over if they needed to because the place was like nothing they had seen before. Even after seeing a mutant Krawk, a crazy Hawaii Island with dancing gecko-creatures, and a huge weird friendly sea slug, this surpassed it all. The beautiful island was not exactly an island since it was floating over the water into the air. It was pretty much sitting atop hundreds of enormous clouds and it was a city full of pink, purple, and other brightly colored buildings. The sky tinted a pink sunny color and more clouds made the suns rays peak through like god himself was reaching throughout the land. Kylen was the first to get off the ship because the beauty of this place was so captivating that her eyes wanted to see more of this place. Aerielle and Brittany came up behind her, along with Trevor, Todd, and Andrew. 

"It's so incredible…how can any place be so beautiful?" Kylen asked and then turned to look at the three men. They all just looked away from her stares, a strange look on their face. It was almost like…worry. "What's wrong?..."

"Yea, you guys have been acting a bit strange lately…"Brittany stated.

"Look, we came here for a reason." Todd replied and Brittany and the others looked lost.

"We came to see the queen on business…and we've been acting weird because she is not fond of us being around." Andrew added on and Kylen just tiled her head, completely lost now. Aerielle walked up to the three.

"Would you please explain…We don't want to be kept in the dark." Aerielle said this they all just were silent for a moment.

"Something tells me you three will be clued in on what's going on today…"Andrew said this and they seemed pleased with that answer.

Everyone, including all the neopets and the other men on the ship, went into the village where many beautiful girls stopped in their tracks and looked at them with stunned faces. Andrew, Todd, and the others seemed to have looks on their faces that meant something that the girls could not quite place. It was an emotion that was unknown to them. They hoped it wouldn't be soon…

Andrew and the other men led them to a small clearing where no other buildings were, except a huge castle with beautiful blue gates surrounding it. They were shocked at its beauty and still shocked that they were practically walking on clouds right now. The castle was HUGE! Its beautiful marble-stone appearance made the three girls want to bow to its beauty. Kylen felt herself wandering towards what was wrong with them men. They had been silent the entire walk and their eyes were now transfixed on the castle. An uneasy feeling was coming over them and she really wanted to know _why_ they were uneasy. It was a mystery…Kylen didn't like the fact that Andrew was keepings secrets from her, especially after his vow to be friendly with her from now on. But he wasn't being friendly- like if he wasn't telling her his secrets. Sure, some had to be kept, but if it was bothering them this much, then they ought to tell them.

"Listen, we'll be meeting to queen in here, I want you three to just keep quiet and don't say a word. This is a very serious matter that we came to discuss." Andrew stated and they all nodded, but that bothered Kylen. She wanted to speak with such an important person. The gates to the castle opened and they all began walking inside and into the garden of the front yard. As they reached the huge doors to the castle, two guards came out with large spears in their hands.

"Only humans aloud, unless you allow some neopets to come in." One guard said with his hand up in a halt fashion. Andrew groaned.

"Alright, Howel and Moorlo…" He said and the Lupe and the Eyrie followed him into the castle, along with all the humans. Kylen and the other girls nearly fainted at the view inside. Red velvet carpeting was EVERYWHERE! It was so incredible and they had never seen a place where royalty lived. The moment Kylen thought about the queen, a woman came hurdling down the stairs with a big grin on her face. She slammed right into Andrew and he did not seem too happy to see her. She was a flawless beauty with perfect blonde hair and perfect blue eyes. Her perfect hair slid down and layered around her perfect face, and she had perfect sized breasts, too, which were perfectly smashed against Andrew's chest. ((Lotta perfect, huh?)). Kylen felt an uneasy feeling now.

"I'm so glad you're here Andrew!" She yelled out with a huge amount of giggles. Kylen felt a shiver go up her spine at the screeching of her voice. Her voice was not perfect…thank god…not everything on her is perfect. But upon looking at the girl more closely, she noticed transparent blue wings on her back.

"Hey, you're a faerie!" Kylen stated, rushing up to the girl and tugging at her wing. The girl giggled at first.

"Hey, that tickles!" She said with a laugh, but then noticed that this was a human she had never seen before and she was walking around with Andrew. "Wait, who are you?" Kylen went silent. How in the world was she supposed to explain this to her?

"Umm, that's not really that important, but my name is Kylen." Kylen said this and then outstretched her hand so that the, almost perfect, girl could shake it, but she just stared at her with a glare in her eyes. Kylen went silent again and gulped as the woman stared daggers at her.

"Listen Ellona, who she is has nothing to do with you and therefore, it is not your business." Andrew said this awfully cold and Kylen couldn't believe the tone of his voice. Not even when he was a rude bastard to her did he talk even closely resembled to what he just did.

"It's ok, Andrew…I'm sure she just wants to know why me, Aerielle, and Brittany are hanging out with you guys." She said scratching the back of her head and raking her fingers through her brown hair. She wasn't sure if she wanted to fall into a ball or run away. Ellona was still shooting knives through her eyes. Ellona then made a 'humph' sound and walked away, leaving Andrew to stare angrily at her.

"I hate that girl…" He grumbled.

"Why, she seems perfect…" Kylen replied to him watching her leave. 'Great…she has a perfect ass too…what's a girl to do when someone like that is around grabbing everyone's attention…Can faeries even BE whores?...' she thought this to herself and found herself putting a smile on her face. Andrew stared strangely at her and she just shrugged her shoulders. Brittany walked up to her sister.

"Wow, what a slut!" She said this so loudly that everyone just stared at her in shock. "What?" Brittany looked around and wondered why everyone was staring at her so funny.

"You have no manners…" Kylen stated and scratched the back of her head again, sighing at the same time.

"I see you are here, Captain Wirtz…" Everyone went silent at the voice. Kylen felt eyes on her and turned her head slowly to see the gorgeous queen of Faerieland. Her long, almost unreal, purple locks were completely down and straight, perfectly lining her face, which then she noticed that her skin was so pale, yet it was soft looking, too. Her long purple dress flowed freely about her feet. She had a small baby blue crown on top of her head and large transparent pink faerie wings. She was…a goddess.

"Wow…" Was all Kylen could mutter out as she saw the queen looking at her with a smile. "I see you brought the newcomers with you." Kylen then wondered how she knew about them. The queen came down and stepped in front of Kylen. "Don't look so surprised. I saw you and your friends in my dreams." The queen's eyes averted to Andrew and a serious look came upon her face. One came upon Andrew's as well. "I'm guessing you came for the sword…I still have half a mind not to give it to you…I'm not sure if I can trust you." When the queen said this, Kylen looked at Andrew with the most pathetically confused face in the world. A look of being ashamed crossed his face as he looked at her. The queen seemed interested as Andrew looked at Kylen. "Well…all of you follow me." She said this and everyone immediately obeyed.

It felt like forever, because they had to follow and follow and follow, but it seemed that the stairs never ended. They were climbing up the stairs to the large tower on the castle. The stairs were very wide and obviously very long. The three girls were exhausted by the time they got up there and Howel rolled his eyes at them. The queen opened two large wooden doors when they got to the top and they entered a throne room. It was small for being a throne room, but still about the size of four very large bedrooms. They all stood around the throne as she sat down on it. It was covered in beautiful animal fur.

"We have much to discuss captain…" The queen started. She seemed a lot harsher than Kylen would have expected and she didn't like the way she was staring down Andrew. He looked almost scared. "I know you are trying so hard to prove that you did not do those crimes, Captain, but you must understand my worry. It's hard to give you such a powerful and rare weapon so you can do that."

"I know ma' am." He replied to her and Kylen wondered what she was talking about. The queen glanced at Kylen and saw her confusion.

"My dear…you didn't tell them did you?" The queen said this and Kylen felt anger in the pit of her stomach. When she looked at Aerielle and Brittany, they too both looked annoyed. "I can tell Captain Wirtz…you didn't plan on telling them, huh?"

"No your highness…" Now Kylen was really angry.

"Tell us what? What is so damn important that you can't tell us!?" Kylen couldn't help it. She was furious that he was keeping a secret from her, and it was definitely important. She saw Andrew flinch when she yelled and immediately felt bad about it, but she was still angry.

"Please calm down, ms…"

"Kylen, my name is Kylen."

"…Ms. Kylen…do not be angry with him. He had a reason to keep this secret and I think it best that he tell you in private then me shout it about to the three of you. It is a painful subject." When she said this, Kylen felt her heart sink. How painful was it? "But to get back to the subject at hand…Andrew, I suppose I will be giving you the sword, but you must realize that if I find out you ran off with it, then I will have you hunted down and this time, I will have you killed." Kylen's eyes widened in shock. She hadn't expected all this violence and hate in this world. But then again…something really bad must have happened. "Now then…I will explain to them why exactly you kept them with you because that is something I DO know about." Andrew nodded. "Now girls…the reason why you are still here and you weren't directly sent back home is because Andrew and the others wanted you to help them on their mission to claim the four swords…"

"The four swords? What are those?" Aerielle asked aloud.

"They are the weapons that keep the balance in our world." The queen stated and with a wave of her hand, a picture appeared in the middle of the room. It was almost like looking into a television, only it was like a hologram. "Long ago, four gods were created by the ultimate one…three of them female, and one of them male…the four gods hated each other with every amount of energy in their being, so they fought each other to claim the land for their own. The ultimate god was furious at his children and forced them to make a truce with each other. Each of them would control a certain piece of the world, but the world never belonged completely to them. Ariana Vallania, the goddess of the ocean and all water on earth…Tarellia Garbon, the goddess of the ground and plants, or in other words, the keeper of nature...Argonaut Marrus, the god of wind and shadow…and Kimanata Requian, the goddess of ice and everything cold in this world. The four of them were complete opposites which was why they fought with each other. Ariana was shy and innocent, Tarellia was hot-tempered and loved a challenge and she loved mischief, Argonaut was a strong god, his ego sometimes getting the best of him…though those three fought each other, it was Kimanata that caused the most problems. Kimanata was the only child created with evil. She was as cold as the power she was given. Her mind had been lost to temptation and the love of bloodshed. But the ultimate god loved her no matter what. In the end, with their powers, they were also sentenced to an eternity of being trapped inside a powerful sword which contained their powers and their souls."

"So what does this have to do with us?" Kylen asked her.

"Well, dear one…These pirates wanted you to help them claim the swords so that they could…what did you say Captain?...protect them? You see, Kylen, he thinks that someone is after the swords and that someone is the one who killed…" she caught herself before saying it. "…well…that is something you'll have to wait for Andrew to explain. Anyways…" she cleared her throat. "They thought that because you were from another world, that one of you may be able to handle the power of Kimanata…he was using you to see if you could handle it." Kylen and the other two were now completely stunned. Kylen could feel her air running low. She was hurt beyond belief.

"What would have happened…if we couldn't handle it?" Kylen asked.

"Kimanata would completely take over your soul, turning you to evil." When the queen said this, Kylen felt herself feeling a pain in the pit of her stomach. Tears were coming on and when she looked at Aerielle and Brittany, they both looked betrayed as well. Brittany turned to Todd.

"You asshole…you were going to use us and then throw us away!? What would have happened if we turned evil?!" She yelled at him.

"Only one person in the entire world can control the sword…you could have been sacrificing two or all of their lives to the power of evil…" the Queen was angry as well. She didn't like this thought one bit. Kylen then felt the tears flowing from her face as well as Aerielle. Kylen quickly ran out…she needed fresh air and some time to think. Andrew watched sadly as she ran out. He didn't want to hurt her. That was the last thing he wanted to do. When the Queen saw the look in Andrew's eyes as his gaze looked on to where Kylen had run out of the doors, she felt a little bad about telling them.

Kylen felt a sudden rush of relief as she ran out onto the nearest balcony that she could. She had been betrayed and used. He pretended he wanted to be friends, but he was just a big liar…all of them were. What were she, Brittany, and Aerielle to do now? This was terrible…absolutely terrible. Kylen leaned her elbows onto the balcony's ledge and put her head in her hands. It hurt…why did it hurt?

"Kylen…" she turned in shock as Andrew stood there with an ashamed look on his face.

"Go away! I don't want to talk to you!" She yelled in anger and he ran at her,, grabbing her by her shoulders with a tight grip. It hurt a little…

"Andrew, you're hurting me!" When she said this he eased his grip on her.

"Kylen…I need you to understand why I did this…why I kept this secret."

"I don't want you to explain…you would have gladly given our souls to the devil itself!" This stung him, but he wouldn't back down.

"No…I didn't want to…I was going to tell you…I really was…but I had trouble, and believe me…I would have let you decided. I would not have tried to trick you." She looked in his eyes for lies…but she saw none. Yet, she had believed lies before…that got her into trouble.

"I don't know…if I can believe you." She turned her gaze from his.

"Listen…I will come to your room tonight and I promise I will tell you everything you need to know about these swords and what we're trying to accomplish…you can trust on that." She thought for a moment and then nodded her head.

"Ok…I want the entire story…" 'Damn!...why am I so forgiving' she then yelled in her mind.

"Thank you…" He let go of her shoulders and then walked back into the castle, leaving Kylen to her thoughts once again.

* * *

The Queen had asked to see Kylen, Aerielle, and Brittany privately in her throne room and they were happy to oblige. Kylen had been thinking about what Andrew would say to her when she got to her room, and she told Brittany about it. Her big sister was not at all pleased that she was going to bring an older man into her room with no one around. She always thought that some guy was trying to take advantage of her…but it didn't make Kylen angry. Her sister was just trying to protect her from getting hurt. But even so…Andrew and her were not like that. She would never do anything weird with him. 

"I'm sorry for calling you…I just wanted to speak with you about earlier." The Queen said with a sweet smile.

"Look, if you are going to apologize, we don't need it, your highness." Brittany said with a smile back at her.

"I understand that…I just wanted to tell you that you shouldn't blame Andrew and the others for not saying anything. It is a touchy subject. You see…I should start from the beginning." She started and Kylen realized that the Queen was going to say what Andrew probably was going to tell her later. She would rather hear it from the queen anyway…that way she would get the entire story. "Andrew and Todd had saved these two girls that had been lost at sea…they couldn't remember anything of what had happened to them and the two wanted to help them as much as possible. They, like you, became pirates on the ship and Andrew and Todd fell in love…Their names were Rachel and Anya. Andrew loved Rachel so much, and I never realized it until now. Todd loved Anya as much, too…but their peace would not continue to go one...They were starting to constantly be tormented by Lord Darigan…"

"Lord…Darigan?" Kylen said aloud by accident.

"Yes…a very evil being indeed…apparently, the girls were servants he had ordered to be sent to him, and their ship was wrecked, which was why they had lost their memories. They both had suffered terrible head injuries, but they recovered. Andrew and Todd continued to ignore them until one day, their ship was attacked and Rachel and Anya were both killed by Lord Darigan himself. Andrew and Todd didn't even know about it until the enemies had left and they found the girls slaughtered in their rooms." The three girls covered their mouths in horror. It was nothing that Kylen could ever have imagined… "Well…it got worse after that. Andrew and Todd were suspected of murder and the king of Meridell had the two tortured. Todd was beaten and Andrew was severely whipped. Unfortunately, I didn't believe Andrew and Todd either during that time…Andrew came to me for help and we came to an agreement…he said that he overheard Lord Darigan talking about the four swords to one of his minions. He vowed that he would collect them and prove that he was a good person and not capable of murder. I believe him anyway…but I still will let him do this because I know he needed a piece of mind. I told Andrew that I didn't want to do this now, though, so I then told him to wait a year for his and Todd's charges to calm down and a year has passed now. I have the Sword of Wind…the sword that has the spirit of Argonaut Marrus in it. That is the first step in getting all of the swords. I trust Andrew to collect all of the swords and use them to defeat Darigan."

Kylen looked at the ground. She didn't care about the swords…she really didn't. Andrew was on her mind and Brittany was thinking about Todd.

_Whipped?...He was Whipped… _Kylen thought and she turned her back to the Queen.

"Are you alright?" She asked Kylen, but she couldn't answer.

"I have to go…" was all she replied with and walked out of the room. She had never felt more like a fool in her entire life. She had made a big deal out of her fiancé cheating on her and Andrew had gone through something so much worse. The woman he was in love with died at the hands of an evil villain and he was still standing on his two feet just fine. He was strong and brave, yet he had such a horrible past. The torture…the pain…it wasn't even her life and she could feel all of these terrible emotions rushing through her. Why did it affect her so much?

She thought the only thing she could do was to go to his room and talk to him now. She had to…so she walked down a large flight of stairs and through a long corridor before she was finally standing next to his bedroom door. She knocked lightly and heard shuffling inside before Andrew opened the door with messy hair.

"Oh…were you asleep?" She asked. She knew that the feelings moving through her were coming through her voice.

"Yea, I was tired…but it's fine. Are you okay?" He noticed the sadness in her voice and she nodded.

"Can I talk to you?"

"Sure." He stepped aside and let her into the room. She walked in and went straight to the window. Dark curtains were covering the light so she opened them slightly to look out. It caused a beam of sunlight to shoot from the window to the other side of the room. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

"You don't have to tell me anything later Andrew…I know everything…" When she said that, his eyes grew wide in confusion.

"What do you mean…" He suddenly looked nervous and he avoided looking at her.

"I know everything…about why you're getting the swords…I know about Rachel…I know about Lord Darigan…I know about what happened to you after he attacked your ship…Everything…" She finished and looked straight into his eyes. He may have not been looking at her, but she could still see the pain in them. "I'm sorry…"

"What do YOU know!?" He suddenly turned and snapped at her. She jumped back a bit, hitting the wall in surprise. "You know nothing of what it feels like so don't throw your sorries at me." He became so cold, his voice so dark and deep.

"I…I know…I…didn't mean to upset you…I just thought that maybe…" She started, but couldn't finish the sentence.

"You just thought…thought what? Thought I'd suddenly pour myself out to you. I don't want to talk about what happened and I NEVER will want to talk about it. It's none of your business!!" He was starting to scare her, but she understood that he was lashing out in sadness and anger both at the same time. Though her mind was telling her to run and hide, her heart was telling her to stay and try to find some way to comfort him.

"I don't need you to talk to me about it…but I want you to let me say that I'm sorry for what happened and I understand now…"

"You don't understand anything about it! You don't have a clue!!" He suddenly came towards her and she knew that something physical was about to happen. She could see it in his eyes. His eyes showed an anger that meant he could do anything at this moment. She was right. He brought his hand out and grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and yanked her to his other side. "Get out…" He said coldly. She looked at him shocked as she felt the pain forming around her neck.

"Andrew…please…" She started, but she couldn't finish as he dragged her across the room and, with all his might, threw her into the hallway. She fell to the ground with a loud thud and he stared for a second before slamming the door. Kylen felt the tears running down her face violently and she jumped up and ran for her room. She couldn't believe it…never had she seen him this angry before. All that talk of him protecting her…the talk that he would try to be friends with her…it was all easily thrown away just like that? She had never been more terrified of a man in that instant, but she had never felt more sympathy for one either. He created feelings in her that were confusing and conflicting with each other. She hated him, yet she felt something for him. He was so annoying, yet charming as well. He was sweet…yet so angry and fierce. She figured no man could be more confusing…or easier to read.

When Kylen felt the soft mattress of her bed, she let the tears fall even more then before. Loud sobs escaped her throat and she buried the noise with the thick blanket. She wasn't sure if she was angry with him about this since he was only acting out of sadness. She probably shouldn't have tried talking to him about it. He could have told her when he was ready…then again…maybe he never even planned on telling her. What if he had come to her room and made up some excuse as to why they were trying to get those swords.

She had a moment of anger and then it changed again. Andrew had gone through so much a year ago and he had been hiding it. Sure, they had only known him and the others for two weeks, but she had grown close to everyone there and wished that Andrew could have told her about what happened, especially after she had confessed her own problem to him. He was tortured for something he had not even done. He was tortured for being suspected of killing the woman he loved. Kylen then practically jumped when she heard a knocked at the door.

"Hey Kylen! It's Aerielle. The queen is throwing a party downstairs in the main room and we should all go. Todd and Trevor went to get Andrew, so get your butt out of bed and let's get going!" She yelled through the door.

"I'm not feeling so hot, Aerielle. Can't I just skip it." She replied, keeping the sadness out of her voice.

"Oh really? I know you Kylen. This is just another excuse not to wear a pretty dress. I have one right here for you, now open this door!" Aerielle was very demanding sometimes and Kylen gave in and got up from the bed after some persistent knocking. She quickly checked her face in the mirror and made sure she didn't have a red face before she opened the door and had a blue dress thrown in her face. Aerielle dragged her into the bathroom to help her get ready.

When the dress was on and her make-up was done, Kylen looked at herself in the giant mirror in the bathroom and nodded. She looked pretty decent. The dress was a navy blue, tying around her neck, and it reached to her ankles. From the waist and up it hugged her curves quite nicely. She had taken half of her hair and tied it so that it was pulled from her face, but still looked like it was down and loose so the waviness was seen. All in all, she looked stunning.

"You look amazing…every guy there will die!" Aerielle stated excitedly.

"I don't think so…" She knew one guy who wanted HER to die.

"I swear, you never give yourself any credit." Aerielle replied with her arms crossed. "Now let's go." Aerielle had dress in a similar dress only it was spaghetti-strapped and purple and went to just below her knees. She grabbed Kylen's arm and dragged her through the room and out the door.

* * *

When they reached the main room, which was absolutely huge, they saw that the party was already going on and people were dancing to some happy tunes. It sounded like most of the music was going to be played with orchestra instruments, like violins and stuff. That was fine with Kylen since she liked the way violins sounded anyway. But still…she didn't want to be here. She quickly scanned the room until her face fell upon the man who had thrown her out of his room. He was watching the people dance with a very unhappy look on his face. She couldn't tell if it was anger or depression. 

"Let's go say hit to the boys." Aerielle said and Kylen didn't let her drag her this time.

"Uh, you do that while I go get a drink." Kylen said in a rush and darted to the opposite side of the room. She needed to drink heavily at this point. She didn't want to have a straight mind tonight. When she spotted the alcoholic punch, she grabbed a cup and poured it, immediately taking in a large gulp. It burned her throat and she took in a deep breath.

"Whoa, the party is just starting, dance with me before you go and get hammered." She heard a masculine voice behind her and she turned to see a fairy only it was a man…a really handsome one, too. He had black transparent wings that matched perfectly with black hair short perfect hair. He had blue eyes and they looked kind. Though normally she would have melted, she was not in the mood for flirtation, but she didn't want to be rude. They had been playing a couple slow songs and she knew she wasn't going to like having her body against a stranger, but she obliged and followed him to the dance floor. She wasn't good at dancing, but she sure as hell was going to try anything in order to get today out of her mind. "You look really pretty in that dress. It suits you." She smiled at him best she could.

"Thank you…its okay I guess." She replied.

"It's more then okay…I suppose you don't think too highly of yourself do you?" Boy he sure was snoopy.

"I guess not, but I'm pretty happy otherwise."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to pry." He seemed honest.

"That's ok." That was the last thing they said to each other as she just let the rest of the song go by. She wanted to get away and be by herself right now. The song ended and another one began again. He seemed like he wanted to dance again, and Kylen nearly screamed.

"Could I cut in?" She practically fainted when she heard Andrew speak as he was standing next to her.

"Oh uh…ok." The fairy was rather disappointed, but he stood aside and walked away while Andrew brought his hand out and Kylen hesitantly accepted it. When his other hand came onto her waist, she felt a shiver go down her spine. She put her other hand on his shoulder like she was supposed to. The closeness was about to kill her. If she was being herself, she would have said she was sorry again, but she knew better this time. Andrew wasn't one to chat about he past and he wasn't one to take any sympathy, so she wasn't going to give any. It was quiet for a moment.

"I'm sorry…" He finally whispered into her ear. "I acted stupid and I shouldn't have thrown you like that…"

"It's fine…" She stated quickly. "I understand…or maybe I don't…why you reacted like that." She just stared straight at his chest. There was no way she could look up at him.

"It was wrong of me to yell at you, too…you were just trying to be helpful…but I didn't budge an inch to your sympathy…I never do."

"And that's fine..." She was interrupted immediately.

"No…it's not. I can't keep shutting people out like. It's wrong and it's mean. I promise I won't ever treat you like that again." He was very serious, she could tell. It was strange, but she could hear it in his voice when he meant something.

"Well that's nice to know…" She said softly and rested her head against his shoulder. She felt Andrew stiffen for a second and then relax. She moved her head away. "Sorry…" She said awkwardly.

"It's ok. I like it." She smiled at that.

"Oh…" She rested her head against it again and moved to the music. It was nice to be in a man's arms since her bad relationship.

"I am starting to get over the whole thing, I suppose. I mean, it was a little while back and I'm getting into the phase where I realize it was never my fault." She was glad he was starting to trust her and tell her his feelings. "Darigan was trying to take revenge out on my crew…" that was something she didn't know. "It was over something really stupid. In fact, it started with Zaffy…"

"What, really?" Kylen moved her head from his shoulder, not even realizing that it disappointed Andrew.

"Yea, Zaffy was once a servant of Darigan's. He hated it and ran away; only he stole something very expensive from him. We found him in Meridell and took him in our care. We found the girls right after that. Darigan had been searching for Zaffy and that's when he found us and killed Rachel and Anya."

"Wow…"

"Zaffy thought it was his fault, too. He said he was stupid for stealing the object from Darigan, and if he hadn't, it would have never happened." Andrew had a sad look on his face. "I guess we all have our little problems." Kylen felt a little uncomfortable all of a sudden and moved away from him.

"Look, I'm tired and I really wanted to go to bed before, but Aerielle sort of dragged me here…I'll see you in the morning." She said this rather quickly and walked away from him. When she left the room, she leaned against the wall. The queen must not have known the real reason why Darigan went after Andrew and the crew. She shared a bit of the hurt that Andrew felt for some odd reason. Why were his own emotions affecting hers as well?

"Exactly how close are you and Andrew?" Kylen looked at the woman standing next to her. It was Ellona. Now she had something to really worry about.

"What do you mean…we're friends…and I just met him so we're not even that good of friends." Kylen replied and looked down at the floor.

"You two don't act like friends…" Ellona was shooting daggers at her, she could feel it.

"I don't know you, and you don't know me, so can you just leave me alone." Kylen was starting to get frustrated. The day had been stressful and any more problems were going to kill her.

"You don't have to get angry…I'm not as bad as you think I am…but either way, I like Andrew a lot and you have competition."

"He's all yours…I don't like him that way."

"You're fooling yourself." Ellona sure acted like she knew everything. "Even if you just met Andrew, I can tell you already like him. He's an easy guy to fall for. He's strong, handsome, sweet…everything you need in a man. There's nothing wrong with liking him."

"Whatever…I'm going to bed…" Kylen walked away from her then. She sure was frustrating. Though she couldn't lie. Andrew was a very likeable guy and she couldn't deny the fact that she had a bit of feeling for him. He was pretty much perfect except for the moment where he got really mad. As she walked down the hall, she pretty much stared at her feet. She hoped that was the last encounter she had tonight. She just wanted to go to her room and pass out.

"Kylen." _Damn._ She turned and saw Howel coming over to her. He walked next to her and looked straight ahead. "I'll walk you to your room."

"O…Ok…" She replied oddly and began walking again.

"I wanted to say that what you're doing is a bad idea…"

"What?" Kylen looked down at him.

"I'm not trying to be hateful or rude…it's just that you are from a completely different world then we are. You shouldn't be getting involved with Andrew." Howel for once decided that Kylen was grown-up enough and trustworthy enough to be warned as well. He would never admit it out loud, but he had grown very fond of her these past couple weeks.

"I'm not trying to…it's just one of those things that happens on its own…" She walked a little ahead of him. "You have to understand that I'm not trying to ruin anyone's plans or get in the way…and if you think that Andrew and I have something then you're wrong. We don't…I also don't plan on there being anything. So forget about that…you have to trust me Howel. As much as you hate it, you have to. Even if you don't believe it, I'm very mature and I can handle most of anything. My life caused that to happen. I wish you could at least give me some respect." When she was done, Howel was now looking at the wall next to him. She could see a kind of sadness in his eyes.

"Alright…fine. I'll try to stop being so…selfish." Howel said it in a way that meant he wasn't really going to try, or he didn't know how to. Kylen just gave him an annoyed sigh and jogged the rest of the way to her room. Howel sat down for a second, pissed off with himself. Maybe there was little bit of sarcasm in what he said…maybe he was being foolish. No…he _was _being foolish. He never gave the girls any respect when they had gone through so much over these past two weeks. How strange it must have been to have a normal life one day and then suddenly be sprung into chaos. He would have to apologize to her tomorrow and really mean what he said. He decided for now he would go back to the party and enjoy himself, though he didn't think he could knowing that she was pissed at him.

'_Oh well…' _He thought as his ears drooped next to his head. Tomorrow will fix everything.

A.N. Hey, I don't get very many reviews on this story but if there is a specific town(like Meridell or terror mountain) that you want in the story then please tell me, I'd like to know. I want to leave some out to save the plot, but I also want a place that people would like in there, so yea. Thanks for reading!


	9. Authors Note

Hi. I'm terribly sorry that I haven't updated. I still love this story of mine and plan to update soon. I was even considering turning this story into a webcomic. I like to draw, too, so it only makes sense. Well, please keep looking back for the updates. I hope to bring in another chapter soon.


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